North West Mountain Rescue Team (NWMRT) who are based at Florencecourt provide a search and rescue service to anyone in need in mountainous, remote or hostile environments in the county and the surrounding areas. 

The local base is situated in the heart of the Fermanagh hills in Florencecourt, and currently has 17 members. The Fermanagh base is used as a training base where members meet regularly for training.

Most recently, the team rescued three young men who set off to climb Cuilcagh Mountain but got into trouble as it quickly became dark and the weather deteriorated. The team went out to help the men and were able to help them back to safety. 

Member of the team, Diane Sheridan, explained that the work carried out by NWMRT is vital, and primarily done by volunteers. 

“The incident vary from people lost in the hills, helping animal’s from precarious places and to a number of calls to help the Health and Social Care Trusts with transport during the weather events early in the year. 

So far during 2018 the entire team has been called out by the PSNI a total of 46 times.”

The team provides a 24 hour call out service requiring a high level of commitment from the team members who are expected to respond in all weather conditions, 365 days of the year. 354

NWMRT is a registered charity, and fundraising and public awareness is crucial to the running of the team.

Diane continued, “We regularly hold street collections t, organise fundraising events and promote our team web and social media sites, all to help bring in much needed funds. 

These funds go towards buying equipment, training team members and to the general running costs of a search and rescue team.”

 If you would like to support or donate to the team, visit www.justgiving.com/nwmrt or more information see nwmrt.org.