Volunteer mountain rescuers from Tavistock supported the complex emergency bomb disposal operation in Plymouth last week.

Dartmoor Search & Rescue Team (DSRT) Tavistock joined other emergency services and other first responders in Southway when an unexploded World War Two 250kg device was uncovered by builders on Wednesday, April 29.

The find, on Flamborough Road, prompted a large-scale evacuation of around 1,500 residents and a 400-metre safety evacuation cordon while Army specialist teams worked to make it safe and eventually detonated it safely with a controlled explosion on Friday morning, May 1.

A DSRT Tavistock spokesman said: “We were put on standby, while the team were already out on weekly training, to assist with the evacuation of 1,200 homes in the Southway area, due to an unexploded device.”

At 11pm on the Wednesday, the Tavistock team deployed to a rendezvous point in Plymouth and coordinated with colleagues from Dartmoor Search and Rescue Team Plymouth, HM Coastguard rescue unit, Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue, Devon & Cornwall Police and Devon & Cornwall 4x4 Response.

“Through the night we visited every property within a 400m cordon around the unexploded bomb, checking properties were either vacated, or asking people to evacuate when found to be still in their homes,” said the team spokesman.

“Every visit and occupants plan of leaving or staying was logged, and the data was assessed to make a plan for the following day.”

The team finished at 5.30am the same day, with all vehicles then returning to base in Tavistock and all members heading home to get as much sleep as possible before either their normal day job, or the expected follow up deployment to Southway, the next day (Thursday, April 30).

As expected, the Tavistock team was called again to continue the evacuation at 9am on Thursday, including several members who had been out all night on the Wednesday.

The Tavistock team once again joined multi-agency responders, comprising Mountain Rescue England and Wales, HM Coastguard, Devon 4x4 response and fire and police to revisit properties in the 400m cordon to reduce the number of people still in the high risk area.

The DSRT Tavistock spokesman said: “All empty properties were double-checked and we explained the dangers presented by the work being carried out by the military explosive ordnance disposal team to any people remaining in place.

“Where people wanted to leave, but were unable to (due to lack of transport) arrangements were made to transport them out of the cordon to a place of safety.

“Thursday’s pace was slow, but thorough, with some emotional moments when residents realised the seriousness of the situation.”

All mountain rescue teams were finally stood down at 8.30pm on Thursday, meaning a long deployment, especially for those who had been deployed the night before.”