The Community Rescue Service (CRS) is a charitable search and rescue organisation operated by volunteers and carries out lowland rescue operations in conjunction with the PSNI and other agencies.
A recent post on the Facebook page of its Belfast branch described this past weekend as “relentless”, with volunteers mixing ongoing searches with new callouts, as well as finding time to carry out fundraising.
This time of year can be difficult for a lot of reasons
CRS regional commander for NI, Sean McCarry, said carrying out operations close to Christmas was “very poignant”.
“We’re quite busy at all times of the year, but Christmas is very poignant. We would have a steady enough situation throughout the year, particularly in Northern Ireland where the suicide rate is quite high,” he told this newspaper.
“There are lots of reasons for that as we all know; I’m not an expert on that side of it. What we are experts on is finding the people, trying to find them alive and getting them back.
“There are teams in all the different counties in England, but we would be the busiest lowland rescue team in the UK and Ireland.”
Sean McCarry, regional commander of CRS Northern Ireland
Mr McCarry added that while there’s usually a slight increase in calls around the festive period, the service’s level of callouts was high all year round.
“I would say it’s very slight. There’s certainly not a decrease, but it’s not a significant increase compared to other times of year.
“We have a relatively steady ongoing baseline that we’re always working to, which is a number sometimes of at least two or maybe three searches a day.
“From that, we can have peaks where we’re ending up doing more than that every day for a period of a week or two weeks.
“This time of year can be difficult for a lot of reasons; people sometimes are celebrating and have a great time, but there are also lots of people who find that they’ve lost loved ones, or they’re on their own, or they’re lonely.
“It’s a good time of year to think about others, to try and look after them, but start off by looking after yourself.”
The CRS is currently involved in a number of ongoing searches for Andrew Robinson and Bryn Williams in the Portadown and Groomsport areas respectively.
Community Rescue Service’s Belfast branch described last weekend as “relentless”
Police at the scene of an incident in north Belfast
Mr Robinson has been missing since November 15, while Mr Williams’ last contact with his family was on December 6.
“The Portadown and Groomsport searches are ongoing searches planned with the police in detail,” said Mr McCarry.
“We’re working alongside our colleagues from Knock Bay Rescue, and there are other colleagues from SARDA out north, and a few other different search teams.
“We thankfully have got equipment and expertise that allows us to search even when there’s no daylight. We would be starting some of our searches very early in the morning, and working through to the light leaves.
“We know what we’re doing every day, every evening. We’ll keep that pace up until we find the person or the police tell us they have a different plan.”