Four incidents since Sunday
Team members might not have been sleeping too well since Sunday but it has more to do with the fact that the pager hasn't stopped beeping than with the onset of the 'great British summer'.
The team has been called to four incidents since Sunday evening – and they've mainly been conducted in the wee small hours of the morning (or that's what it feels like). Serves us right for thinking it had all gone quiet!
It started on Sunday, eleven at night, when a 44 year old male was reported to have fallen in a ravine at Ashworth Valley, Bury, sustaining head injuries, about a mile from the road, and in woodland. Ashie Valley has traditionally been a bit of a hotspot for us, with several falls and a few deaths there over the years – the most renowned the tragic death of eleven year old Scott Fanning, who fell 60 foot down the ravine in 1998 whilst on a scout camp. Yet the area is relatively urban, a small area of woodland just a short walk from a busy main road, and a popular spot with recreational walkers and picnicking families. By no means hard core mountain rescue country!
When we arrived the man was at the road side having slipped into the steep sided ravine. He had walked along the stream and was able to get himself out. He was taken by ambulance to hospital.
Meanwhile, a friend of his had tried to reach him and become stuck on the side of the ravine, about 30 feet above the stream, and sustained a minor ankle injury. Team members set up a rope system to lower a team member to the casualty, who was then put into a sling and hauled out. It was 1.15am before we stood down from that one.
Wednesday was a daylight call – so only the working day disturbed!! A 15 year old male had fallen from rock face at Greenbooth Reservoir, in Rochdale, sustaining a possible fracture over his left eye, a fracture to his right ribs and a dislocated left knee. We packaged him up and carried him by stretcher to the waiting air ambulance.
Another daytime one – Thursday afternoon. Sixteen year old male had been playing in the River Irwell with friends when he slipped down the weir, catching his foot in a hole near the base, sustaining a suspected fracture to his ankle/lower leg. When we arrived, he was at the base of the weir with a paramedic in the water supporting him. Helimed landed nearby, and the Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue Service Water Rescue Unit was also in attendance and assisted with the evacuation of the casualty to the waiting helicopter.
And then there was last night... half an hour past midnight. This time an eighteen year old male, who had been camping with three friends at an unauthorised campsite, sustained a fractured tibia and fibula. Team members splinted the injury, packaged the casualty onto a Bell stretcher and then carried him half a mile to the ambulance waiting on Rochdale Road. We were stood down 2.30am.
So... what next?
posted Friday, July 03, 2009