CREW from Holsworthy Fire Station were kept busy during Thursday and Friday, responding to members of the community during the severe weather.

On call stations across Devon and Somerset at key locations, including Holsworthy, were staffed during the icy conditions to ensure that fire engines could be mobilised to emergences as quickly as possible.

The crew attended a number of emergencies over the two days. On Friday, at ten to one in the morning the Holsworthy co-responders and firefighters from Bude Fire Station assisted colleagues at Devon and Cornwall Police to search for an elderly couple who were stranded in their vehicle after it broke down and their mobile device ran out of battery.

The crews utilised a 4x4 fire co-responder vehicle and one 4x4 water rescue vehicle from Bude, and were joined by two police officers. Together the team travelled along the A388 towards Great Torrington in an attempt to locate the vehicle and its missing occupants. After searching for a time contact was made with the couple, who had been able to reach a nearby hotel and seek refuge.

Once the team caught up with the couple the co-responder was able to check them over — it was reported that they were safe and well.

Later that morning, at 6.12am the Holsworthy Fire Appliance was called by Devon and Cornwall Police silver command to search for a missing person.

The person had been missing since the early evening the previous day and was believed to be trapped within their vehicle. The person was believed to have no mobile battery so contact could not be made.

The crews arrived near the scene and proceeded on foot to search for the missing person using a thermal image camera. Shovels and poles were used to search in the snowdrifts, which had reached six foot in depth in some areas.

After a detailed search across a two-mile radius was completed the fire crews found the missing person, who was still within their vehicle, but was said to be fit and well. The crews released the male from his vehicle and assisted him to safety.

The Holsworthy crew said: “We would like to say thank you to Matt and Claire who assisted us in the search and a big thank you to local residents for providing a warm welcome hot cup of tea.”