Dublin & Wicklow Mountain Rescue Team (DWMRT) is a volunteer rescue service, available 24 hours per day, every day, to respond to emergencies in upland areas of Dublin, Wicklow, and Louth. DWMRT's mission is to provide a professional-standard, voluntary emergency rescue service. The team comprises 60 highly-trained, motivated, volunteer mountain rescuers, coming from all walks of life, and united by a common love of the outdoors. The team has been based in Roundwood, Co Wicklow since our foundation in 1984.
DWMRT works on behalf of An Garda Síochána to provide an emergency search and rescue response in upland and remote parts of our operational area. We are one of eleven teams that make up Mountain Rescue Ireland, and work all over the island of Ireland with our colleague teams when requested. The team also works closely with the National Ambulance Service, the Irish Coast Guard, the Irish Defence Forces, Dublin Fire Brigade, Wicklow Fire Service, Civil Defence, and other voluntary emergency services.
Mountain rescue began with an ethos of "mountaineers helping other mountaineers in difficulty". That ethos still drives us, but our role has expanded a little. Today, our main role still involves helping people who are lost or injured in the hills, but it also involves searching for missing persons, severe weather response, and body recovery from remote locations. To perform these duties safely, our team members are trained in areas such as low-visibility navigation, search skills, search management, communications, pre-hospital emergency medicine, helicopter operations, crag and rope rescue, and swiftwater rescue.
DWMRT is part-funded by the Irish government, but the team's operational costs far exceed the government funding we receive. The rest of our operational costs are met by donations, grants, and fundraising events. Currently, DWMRT organise three large-scale fundraising events each year: the Art O'Neill Challenge, Walk the Line, and Run the Line. The team is always grateful for any financial support we receive, without that support we couldn't do what we do.