Professionalisation of the Mountain Rescue service and implications for dealing with disasters

In this paper the author considers recent changes in the structures, attitudes, and work loads of Mountain Rescue teams affiliating to the governing body of the Mountain Rescue Council and how these changes both reflect upon increasing expectations by the public and government -in particular to do with flood related work- and how they impact upon the ability of Mountain Rescue teams to deal with broader disaster scenarios, particularly where the voluntary nature of such teams makes it difficult to commit resources of a known magnitude on a consistent basis. A survey of team members from both England and Wales is used to indicate what the specific constraints on this are and to generate suggestions regarding what can be done short of full professionalisation.