A LIFE-SAVING rescue app has proved its worth in the region just one month after its launch.

At the beginning of August, Cleveland Fire Brigade received a call from four young men who were stranded on a boat on the River Tees at 10pm.

With a dead battery on the boat and stuck in the dark, the men had no idea of their location and called the emergency services for help.

The group were instructed to download the rescue app What3Words which splits the world into a grid of 3 metre by 3 metre squares, each assigned with three unique words.

After calling 999 and Cleveland Fire Brigade the men provide the three word location.

The control operator used this to provide an exact location to the fire crew responding to the incident.

The Brigade’s specialist water rescue team were despatched from Thornaby Community Fire Station where they successfully located the boat and towed the vehicle to the jetty.

Marty Allan, District Manager for Stockton, said: “The What3Words app allowed us to pinpoint the location of this incident, accurately saving us valuable time in deploying a crew to rescue the individuals.

"The consequences of this incident could have been much more serious and the What3Words integration is a great tool in supporting us in keeping our communities safe.”

The life-saving app had been integrated into the department just two weeks before the incident.

Alison Farndale, ICT Control Manager, said: “This demonstrates the true value of What3Words. It’s a great app for people to download onto their mobile phones and should they require the Emergency Services in emergency they have the ability to identify their exact location at their fingertips.

"Don’t wait until you are in an emergency situation be prepared and keep yourself safe. The app is free to use and available from the What3Words website or the app stores.”

Earlier this month, another three people were rescued by using What3Words after becoming lost in Hamsterley Forest.

The group, from Newton Aycliffe, had became lost on a walk after not knowing which section of a route they were on.

Using the app, they were found and rescued by emergency services within 90 minutes of their first call to the police.