Severn Trent Community Fund Provides Major Boost for Search Team
FACEBOOK 6th September 2024
Here at Staffordshire Search and Rescue Team we are absolutely delighted to have been awarded a significant grant from the Severn Trent Community Fund.
This funding will immediately enable the purchase of a brand new DS420 Northern Diver powerboat, equipped with the latest Yamaha F20 outboard engine. Furthermore, we will also be taking ownership of some high-tech sonar equipment to further our search and rescue capabilities on inland waterways.
FACEBOOK 31st October 2024
Technology-Enabled Underwater Search Capability Coming Soon to Staffordshire…
Here at Staffordshire Search and Rescue Team we were recently delighted to have been awarded a significant grant from the #STCommunity Fund.
This funding has now enabled us to purchase a brand new DS460 Northern Diver powerboat, coupled with the latest Yamaha F20 outboard engine, as well as an underwater camera and a chart plotter equipped with some of the latest sonar search technology.
In the hours before sunset last Friday, a number of our experienced powerboat team members embarked on an initial testing exercise with the new boat.
We have to say, we were all very impressed. The boat and engine worked flawlessly, and this means we have now taken another step towards our goal of implementing a leading-edge capability in underwater search technology across the region and beyond.
FACEBOOK 16th April 2025
LIVE UPDATE: Underwater Sonar Technology adds New Depth to Search Team’s Capability
As we previously reported, here at Staffordshire’s Search and Rescue Team we were delighted to have been awarded a significant grant from the #STCommunityFund last year.
This funding enabled us to purchase a brand new DS460 Northern Diver powerboat, coupled with the latest Yamaha F20 outboard engine, as well as an underwater camera and a chart plotter equipped with some of the latest sonar search technology.
Following a prolonged and intensive period of training over the winter, we are excited to report that SSART’s underwater sonar search capability is now operational and ready to support the emergency services whenever we’re called!
We are now one of the few teams in the country to have adopted this leading-edge capability in underwater search and rescue and this gives us an additional strength to draw upon when supporting the emergency services in the search for missing people.
SSART’s Sonar Search Team Lead, Dr Lee Quinn, commented that: “following a particularly busy winter – which saw the team attending a huge number of call outs, as well as training a new cohort of student members – I’m really pleased to report that we were still able to qualify a new section capable of deploying sonar search capabilities. This is a fantastic achievement by all of those team members involved and, ultimately, only made possible because of the generous support we received from the #STCommunityFund”
