Rescue 117
Rescue 117, the SAR Coast Guard helicopter based at Waterford Airport, experienced a 33% increase in rescue missions last year, according to the Coast Guard’s end-of-year statistics.
The significant rise in rescues from Waterford – 188 in 2014 – was attributed to prolonged good weather during the summer, which resulted in more people taking holidays in coastal areas, as well as additional work undertaken by the Coast Guard helicopters assisting the national ambulance service, particularly with medevacs of patients suffering from Strokes and STEMIS – ST Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction. Rescue 117 would have been busy early in 2014 and again in the autumn as a result of storms and high winds. New S92’s were also launched in both Waterford and Dublin during the year, with all four of the country’s Coast Guard bases now using the new technology aircraft.
