Call For Help
If you need emergency assistance,
dial 999 or 112.
You can also text 999, but you must be registered with emergencySMS.
To register your phone with emergencySMS, text the word ‘register’ to 999. Then follow the instructions. Once you are registered, you can text 999 to request emergency assistance. Do not assume your message has been received until the emergency services send you back a message. This can take up to two minutes, If you do not get a reply within three minutes, try again or find other ways of getting help.
Mountain Rescue England and Wales are coordinated by the emergency services.
When you contact the emergency services, you will need to tell them:
Who? Which emergency service you require – ask for Police and tell them that you require Mountain Rescue.
What? Briefly, what is the problem.
Where? If you are on Dartmoor, give your grid reference or as much detail as you can. In areas of poor signal and moorland, they may not be able to call you back, so give them the phone number of all other phones in your group.
What next? It is important to follow any instructions you are given – especially if you are told to stay where you are. This makes it easier for us to find you. In remote locations, searches are often completed on foot and they take time. We will get to you as soon as we can, but be prepared to keep warm and wait for safety to arrive.
If you have a whistle, the signal for distress is six long blasts followed by a one minute pause.
Repeat for as long as you can.
Try to remain calm, and keep injured or exhausted people warm.
Look out for the signs of excessive heat or cold, exhaustion, dehydration or shock.
Save your mobile phone battery. Turn off apps that use lots of battery, but keep your GPS signal on.
Other Contacts
For non-urgent, police related enquiries, dial 101. For non-urgent, medical enquiries, dial 111.
To report injured livestock, call the Dartmoor Livestock Protection Society on 07873 587561.