Mountain Club of South Africa Magaliesberg Section Search and Rescue

Mission

The Mountain Club of South Africa (Magaliesberg Section) undertakes to provide an effective and efficient Mountain Search And Rescue service on a voluntary and for-free-of-change basis to those in need in the mountains, irrespective of race, gender or cultural background.

Policies and undertakings

In the course of providing a Mountain Search And Rescue service, we undertake to:

Ensure that we use the best available resources during search and/or rescue tasks.
Maintain an effective and efficient system through which our members may be called out.
Support the relevant authorities having jurisdiction over the scenes at which we work.
Ensure that our members behave in an ethical manner.
Maintain our skills through a regular programme of continuous and ongoing training.
Ensure that our equipment is always maintained to the highest standard of servicability
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Area of operations

We are a team which operates out of two major centres (Johannesburg and Pretoria) in Gauteng. The area we cover is that part of South Africa north of the Vaal River (the former Transvaal Province) and covers the mountainous areas in the provinces of :

Gauteng
North-West Province
Limpopo
Mpumalanga

Within this area we function as a wilderness search team, technical mountain rescue team and as a backup service for rescue teams in the smaller centres (Graskop, etc) who may require additional capability from time to time.

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Core competencies and activities

We regard the following as our core competencies (those things we can do really well):

Mountain and wilderness Search Planning and Search Management
Mountain and wilderness search execution
Cross-country and steep terrain evacuation of injured persons
Cliff-face rope-rescue
Helicopter-based wilderness rescue

In addition to these, we are capable of providing assistance with the following under the leadership of specialists in the field:

Cave search management
Cave search execution
Cave rescue

Our list of activities include:

Training
Training takes place every Thursday evening from 19h00 to 22h00, as well as one weekend per month. Helicopter training takes place with 17 Sqn SAAF as often as possible.
Searches
We have been called out in the past to search mountainous areas for missing hikers, missing tourists, mentally ill adults, mentally ill children, missing herpetologists, navigationally challenged scouts and many others.
Rescues
Rescue calls have covered the full spectrum from rock-climbing, through paragliding, to vehicles over cliffs. Most seem to come from recreational outdoorsmen.
Recoveries
Occasionally we are requested to retrieve the bodies of those who have died in the mountains.
Other activities include:
Assisting other club members with conservation in difficult-to-reach areas;
Assisting other departments in vertical-rescue related scenarios;
Planning assistance to other organisations involved in Disaster Rescue.
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Emergency medical dumps

Because of the remoteness of mountains and the resultant delays when accidents occur the two local sections of MCSA have implemented a policy of placing emergency medical dumps at strategic locations in the mountains. These dumps contain no medications but do contain nearly everything else to provide initial care in the event of an accident in the mountains.

In the event of the contents being used subsequent to an accident the parties involved in the accident are requested to notify the rescue convenor of either section in order to arrange for the necessary item(s) to be replaced.

Between the Johannesburg and Magaliesberg sections of the MCSA a number of these dumps have been placed in the Magaliesberg, Kransberg, Wolkberg, Eastern Transvaal mountains, The Restaurant (Waterval Boven), Mt Everest (Harrismith) and other locations.

Locations of these dumps are distributed to members of these two sections of the club and are available to members of other sections of the club on request. Unfortunately we cannot publish them on the web as we have had problems in the past with people stealing or vandalising them. As a result of this we've even been forced to withdraw one completely and scale others down in size.

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Equipment

What equipment do we use normally? Well, that depends on the task we're engaged in. However, we are sufficiently well equipped to deal with full technical mountain rescue scenes with vertical drops in excess of 150m.

We also have sufficient equipment to manage and execute multi-day land searches over large areas of terrain with minimal support.

The trailer
A few years ago MTN (the cellular telephone people) funded a trailer for us in which we keep our kit, making it possible to move it at a moment's notice.
Maps
Seeing that knowing where you are and what the terrain looks like is one of the critical aspects of search (and rescue) we've been very fortunate to receive permission from the Surveyor General to use digital copies of the 1:50 000 series maps for SAR use, free of charge.
Wish list If you'd prefer to donate equipment or consumables then feel free to take a look at our wish list and discuss it with any of the Search and Rescue coordinators.
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Frequently asked questions

What do we respond to?

We are primarily a MOUNTAIN SEARCH AND RESCUE team. Our area of specialisation lies in the mountains. We will therefore respond to any incident in a mountainous or wilderness area which involves a missing, stuck or injured person.

Typical incidents which we regard as being in our area of expertise are those which involve people who have been injured in the mountains (eg: hikers, tourists, paragliders, motorists) or have not returned home from trips in the mountains and are believed to be lost or injured there.

How do you call us out?

For RESCUES, contact the above number and state that you have a MOUNTAIN RESCUE EMERGENCY. If the operator does not understand you, instruct them to contact the MEDICAL OFFICER ON DUTY.

For SEARCHES, contact either the land-owner (if on state land) or the South African Police Service. Inform them of the nature of the emergency and request that they call MCSA SEARCH AND RESCUE.

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What are our response times?

The response time depends on a number of factors. These include:

The nature of the incident
Whether or not a SAAF helicopter has been or will be tasked for the job
The distances we need to drive
The additional distances we need to walk to gain access to the patient

In addition to this are factors such as the availability of resources (work day or weekend) and the time of day.

However, experience has shown that in extreme cases we can have a hasty team on the road within 30 minutes during the week and as little as 20 minutes over weekends. Their task is to reach the scene, assess the situation and provide initial treatment to whomever needs it, or to conduct an initial hasty search of the most likely places a missing person would be likely to be found.

The second phase of the team is normally on the road within 1 - 1.5 hours of the initial call. Their task is to move the bulk of the equipment and to set up and man the systems required to get the patient(s) to definitive care or to conduct area-search tasks.

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What do we need to know?

YOUR CONTACT PHONE NUMBER! (In case the connection is broken or we need more info)
What happened?
Where did it happen? (& where you are)
How many people injured / missing?
Nature of known injuries and first-aid given?
How many uninjured in the group?
What is the weather like and what do you think it will be like?
What is the terrain immediately around the accident site like?
What route did you follow to get where you are and how long did it take?
Is there a flattish spot 30m x 30m wide nearby, with no trees or bushes?
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Do we charge for rescue?

Probably one of the most frequently asked questions is: "What do you charge for rescues?". The answer to this is easy: The Mountain Club of South Africa DOES NOT CHARGE for rescue. We believe that it is a service that the club can provide the community with and that it is a way of putting something back into the community.

Are rescue team members paid?

Given what we've just said above, the next obvious question is: "But if you don't charge anything for rescues, how do you pay the rescue team members?". Easy: we don't!

Members of the MCSA rescue team:

are not paid for conducting rescues.
are not paid for attending training.
are expected to purchase their own personal equipment with their own money, although we may be able to arrange special discounts on equipment if that equipment will be used for rescues .
are not reimbursed for loss of income incurred during rescues.

In short, the members of the search and rescue team DO NOT GET ANY FORM OF REMUNERATION OR FINANCIAL BENEFIT (OR COMPENSATION) for their involvement in search and rescue.

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What about funding?

Ok, so by not paying our members for their work and by not helping them financially we cut costs, but where does the money for the ropes and carabiners and pulleys and...all that stuff...come from?

The answer is simple: a portion of our general membership's annual membership fees is allocated to rescue. However, this is not nearly enough to cover the costs of new equipment, so...we BEG!

We request donations from sympathetic businesses. Occasionally we receive donations from former patients who see the need for our services. And we keep costs down by looking after our equipment. So...if you feel you'd like to contribute, feel free to contact our chairman or treasurer about making a donation to the rescue fund.

If you'd prefer to donate equipment or consumables then feel free to take a look at our wish list and discuss it with any of the Search and Rescue coordinators.