Episode 14 First Time on the Front Line

Britain's next generation of emergency service recruits,

chosen from a pool of thousands,

rookies like Sarah,

a police special proud to put on the uniform...

Going out and helping people

and doing things that are just proactive for the community...

just a great thing to do.

..and single mum Maya who ditched her day job

to retrain as a paramedic.

It's a brilliant feeling when you get to help someone

because it's one that you don't get very often in life.

From cutting hair to fighting fires,

new recruit Helen is now one of the crew.

It's the only way I'll get experience, by getting in there

and trying to get hands-on.

They've survived months of intensive training...

-Come on! Let's move!

-Get back!

I've made contact.

..they've been tested to their limits...

-Spray! Spray!

-Burning. Pain.

Stop panicking. Don't worry.

..all to realise their ultimate ambitions.

You really have got to be prepared for absolutely anything.

Join them for their First Time on the Front Line.

In today's programme, a Friday-night fight...

He's resisting arrest and attempting to bite one of the police officers.

..Sarah races to help colleagues deal with a drunk...

Absolutely horrendous.

..a warehouse in flames...

That's still smouldering.

..a rookie under pressure...

..and Maya's toughest call yet...

..a tragic case for the new paramedic.

It's really shocking. I can't believe it.

In Cheshire, Sarah Johnson is two months into her career

as a police special.

She's joined high-speed responses...

I'm glad I'm not driving.

..and restrained violent suspects...

Get off me!

..but there are more arrests still to come.

Sarah's journey to becoming a special started in summer 2013,

at the age of 46.

I've always wanted to do something in the police force,

probably ever since I was at school,

and the time just seemed right.

To qualify as a special, Sarah had to take a tough 20-day

training course where she mastered police kit...

Down! Down! Down!

..and self-defence.

-Go!

-Get back!

-Go!

-Get back!

She even volunteered to put pepper spray in her eyes

to experience the pain felt by suspects.

Eight weeks on, the mum of three is now on active duty

and preparing for a night shift.

-I'm off to the police and Peter's in charge.

-I'm in charge!

Rookie Sarah is still getting used to her new role.

She gets quite excited about putting her uniform on.

It's quite funny cos she always says

all the, like, warnings and stuff,

like, "If you have anything to say..."

and stuff like that and puts the handcuffs on

and she always goes like this, "Get back!"

Sarah's set for a busy night in Chester city centre.

It is quite exciting when you first start the shift

cos you're all in uniform and you take one look at yourself

and you kind of think, "Wow, I'm a police officer."

It's just totally different,

home life and then coming into this, really.

It's like a double life you're leading.

Her partner for the evening is PC Jenny Black.

OK. Yeah.

They're in a police van,

ready to support officers should there be any trouble.

And as this is Friday night, there soon is.

We're going to City Road where somebody's apparently kicking off.

It sounds like a serious incident.

He's resisting arrest

and he's attempting to bite one of the police officers.

They're down there on the pavement by City Spice.

The man's extremely drunk and highly aggressive.

-Bring your left foot forward.

-BLEEP.

Stop swearing.

-Sit up, please.

-BLEEP.

-Stand back.

-Stand back.

Stand back.

-Peter, help us out, please.

-My shoe!

-Yeah, I'll get your shoe.

As Sarah preps the van,

one of the man's friends films the arrest.

-BLEEP.

-Stop swearing.

This isn't the first hostile drunk she's had to deal with,

but the state of this one still comes as a shock.

Absolutely horrendous.

I'll put my hand on your head so you don't bang it.

Drunk as they come!

Seriously, I don't think he knows what day it is, bless him.

-In you get.

-In you go, dude. Come on.

His friends have also been drinking.

Sarah tries to help them keep out of trouble.

-BLEEP.

-Excuse me. Excuse me.

SHE SLURS HER SPEECH

All right, we don't need the language.

With the man now under control, it's off to the nick.

-Are we all in?

-Yep.

He'll be put in a cell to sleep off the effects of the alcohol...

..and dealt with when he sobers up.

I think more than anything he's drunk, he wanted to lick

and bite people, I think, but he doesn't know what he's doing.

It's been an eventful start to Sarah's shift

and it's a long way from being over yet.

Every year, West Midlands Fire Service responds

to around 14,000 emergencies.

Hello. It's the fire service.

That's 40 999 calls a day.

Cut it.

It selects only the best recruits...

Ready, steady, slide.

..and Helen Wyer thinks she has what it takes.

26-year-old Helen used to be a hairdresser,

but then she decided to make a fresh start.

I needed something to wake up to

and actually have a career, a future,

something a lot more challenging and worthwhile

and rewarding at the end of it.

Before being allowed on duty,

Helen must pass an intensive training course.

The next eight weeks for us are going to be such hard work.

I might be crying, pulling my hair out in a couple of weeks,

but it will definitely be worthwhile.

She's already learned how to extract casualties from enclosed spaces...

Come on. Just dig in.

..from crashed cars...

and from deep water...

That's it. A little bit further. Brilliant.

Today, Helen and her fellow recruits are back on dry land,

facing fire and toxic smoke for the first time.

The venue for this daunting session is the fire house training centre.

In here, we have real fire. There's much more pressure on them here

because there's real fire involved.

The rookies have little idea what lies in store.

I'm not sure if there will be fire

or whether it will just be hot at the minute.

I haven't ever done anything like this before,

so it is quite scary.

Make your way over to the far side of the room.

The instructors are going to expose the trainees

to intense fire in an enclosed space to see if they can cope.

It's a dangerous exercise.

Their breathing apparatus must be thoroughly checked.

There's much more danger here

because they're dealing with real fire, real heat.

Come on! This way. Move it along.

No time for nerves. Helen goes in.

Soon these rookies will be fighting fires for real.

There are over 40,000 house fires in Britain every year.

The recruits are learning first-hand how quickly fires can spread.

It can take just five minutes for a small fire

to engulf an entire home.

The heat from a domestic fire can exceed 600 degrees Celsius.

The rookies have learnt their lesson.

As soon as they get outside, Helen and her colleagues

must lower their body temperature immediately.

-Is everybody OK?

-Yes.

It's just so full of smoke

and so dark and then, obviously, you're crawling along

and suddenly there's a fire there as well.

Obviously, unbearably hot, so you start to lose

your orientation as well.

Ultimately, if these people here are safe

and they're staying low, they're able to do their job

when they most need to and that's rescue people.

There could be somebody trapped up there, really,

so you've got to keep going.

The next time Helen faces fire, it won't be a training exercise.

New paramedic Maya Black has already helped saved lives.

She's treated a driver suffering excruciating stomach pain...

That scar there, what's that from?

..and rushed a seriously ill woman to hospital...

You're doing really, really well.

Next, the toughest challenge of Maya's fledgling career.

Single mum Maya used to work as a carer for vulnerable people.

Then, in 2011, she decided to take a degree in paramedic science

at university.

Two years of hard study later, she graduated.

Maya Rebecca Black...

11-year-old Tyreece was thrilled with his mum's achievement.

It made me feel proud

cos she's worked hard to do it.

She's saving people and stuff like that and helping.

It's been such a long and difficult journey to get here

and I didn't ever think I would get here.

It's absolutely fantastic.

Two months on, Maya is stationed at one of the busiest

ambulance hubs in the West Midlands.

That's empty, so we need two O2.

She's enjoying the unpredictability of her new job.

Every shift is completely different. Every job is completely different.

It scares me on one hand. On the other hand,

it makes the job exciting. It sort of inspires you to want to work harder.

Today, Maya's paired with experienced colleague Mel Fox.

Their first 999 is of the highest priority.

A red one.

Life-threatening calls are classified as red.

Up there. Up there.

In such cases, crews endeavour to arrive within eight minutes.

Left here.

Ambulance control will send rapid response paramedics too.

There are several crews there,

so it does look like it's quite a serious incident that we're going to.

As they race to the scene, more detail comes through...

shocking detail.

Ah!

He's hanging.

A passer-by has reported seeing a man hanging from a tree in woodland.

There's a large police presence at the scene.

Maya needs to get information as quickly as possible.

Thank you. Thank you.

This is a first for Maya.

She doesn't know what to expect.

Never saw one before so...

-So, at the moment, nobody knows who he is or...?

-No, no.

No amount of training can prepare a rookie for a call like this.

This is the very real part of the job

and the contrast between each job that you go to

is so sort of diverse...

It's really sad.

It's really shocking. I can't believe it.

Maya must compose herself.

There's still an important job to do.

Ultimately, as much as we're presuming that he is deceased,

once he comes up, that's got to be confirmed.

When that moment comes,

Mel thinks her junior partner should take the lead.

It probably seems a bit gory for you to have a look at him,

but I think it will do you the world of good, to be honest,

because you will be going to this again.

-I know.

-You know.

I think it's good experience for Maya.

The books can't teach you this. This is reality.

And I think the reason it's good for Maya to see this is because

she's got a lot of experienced staff around her at the moment...

..which can help her deal with that situation.

The body is hanging over a steep embankment.

Yeah, take that slack back a bit, mate.

It's going to be a complicated recovery operation.

-Let me know when you're ready then.

-Yeah, we're ready.

It takes 30 minutes to retrieve the body.

Yeah, OK.

Maya confirms there are no signs of life.

That's all done. OK.

-Thanks very much for your help.

-Cheers.

-Thanks a lot.

-See you again. Thank you.

-Thanks, bye.

It's been a distressing case for Maya,

but she can't afford to lose focus so early in her shift.

At the moment, it still feels quite surreal

and I do feel really shocked by it.

Literally, need to take it on the chin,

have a chat with your colleagues about it and, you know,

move on to a certain degree, because I don't know what job

I'll get next and I need to focus on the next patient,

not sit dwelling on what I've just seen.

It's for me to deal with later on when I get home.

It's the last day of training

and the rookie firefighters are showing off their new skills.

INAUDIBLE SHOUTING

Helen passed the course with flying colours.

It's a proud moment for her and her loved ones.

I'm shaking. Go and see the family.

Ah, well done, well done.

-Are you going to get a photo?

-I'll have to sort this mop out.

She can't wait to start.

I feel like I've actually got the job now.

It's given me that sense of belonging,

making you feel that you're part of this community now.

I'm quite eager to get involved and get out there.

One month later and Helen is out there, attending a major incident.

A previous shift has put out a huge blaze in a warehouse.

Now Helen's crew must ensure it doesn't catch fire again.

It's a bit of a different start to our shift than normal.

It's quite good, it's exciting. It's all part of it.

You don't know what's around the corner,

you don't know what's going to happen, so, long night ahead.

The warehouse is stacked with highly flammable goods which could

suddenly reignite due to residual heat.

As the warehouse is in the middle of a residential area,

the surrounding homes could be at risk.

The crew has to work fast.

They must remove every single piece of potentially combustible material.

Sometimes it's not so glamorous as people think.

There's a lot of dirty, hard, sweaty work that needs to get done.

Suddenly red-hot embers are discovered.

They need to be swept out of the building immediately.

The whole building could go up in flames again at any moment.

It's physically demanding for the five foot two rookie.

Your lungs are just full of rubbish basically.

Yeah, pretty exhausted, but it's good teamwork.

Keep going, keep going, work, work, work.

Helen's found a burning duvet at the back of the warehouse.

It could easily have set fire to the rubbish around it.

Impressive work by the new recruit.

That's still smouldering.

There's bits that we're finding that are still lit,

so, obviously, there's a reason behind doing it all now I'm seeing.

Once the warehouse is emptied, the walls and ceiling must be cooled.

Anyone who don't need to be in there then, let's get out.

Have a quick spray.

Helen's given the task of soaking the warehouse interior.

Just go to the front and give it a damn good...

Everywhere, get in there.

Next, she must check for any remaining hot spots

with a thermal imaging camera.

It looks like Helen's dampening down has done the trick.

The only hot spot left by a warm glove.

-OK. Right. Happy?

-Yeah.

-Hels, on your head be it.

Yeah, happy? Super.

The operation can wind down. Helen's work is done.

Feeling pretty tired, to be honest.

It's quite late, been here for quite a few hours.

Yeah, it's been really good. I've enjoyed it.

Her biggest call-out to date is a long way from her former

life in the hairdressing salon.

I probably do look quite dirty.

I haven't seen myself, so I haven't got a clue.

Hopefully it shows hard work.

It's the only way I'll get experience, by getting in there

and trying to get hands-on.

It's gaining respect from people as well, if you actually

show that you're willing to work hard.

West Midlands Ambulance Service gets around a million calls a year

and another has just come in.

Responding, rookie paramedic Maya and Sarah Bessant,

her latest partner.

A woman has fallen and injured her leg badly

whilst running for a train.

It's an emergency but it's also rush hour.

Traffic is really horrendous at the moment.

It's going into Birmingham city centre at rush hour,

so she's injured herself in the worst possible place, really.

The winter temperature is dropping.

They need to get to the patient fast.

It's only slightly over freezing, so it's really cold out there.

There's the car.

Just eight minutes after receiving the call,

-they arrive...

-Hello.

..to find their patient, Christine, in agony.

That painful? Can you move?

Her pain level indicates Christine might have broken a bone.

Ah, bless you.

Because it's so cold, the paramedics need to transfer her to the

ambulance for a thorough assessment.

They must move her carefully to avoid causing further injury.

-Ah!

-I've got you, I've got you.

Can you manage?

Even gentle movement causes excruciating pain.

We just want to get your pain relief under control.

Let's just see if we can try and relax you a bit more, is that OK?

Nice deep breaths, that's it.

Maya hopes gas and air will help.

That's it, and again.

Even though it might cause discomfort,

the paramedics need to examine the injury.

Do you mind if we have a little check of it?

No, I don't mind.

Christine's left leg is badly swollen.

It's doubled in size in just 20 minutes,

leading the paramedics to one conclusion.

Yeah.

Maya wants to see if the gas and air is working.

A broken hip can be agonising.

She decides to give Christine morphine.

Administering it through a cannula means it'll hit

the bloodstream instantly.

You'll feel a small scratch, OK?

You should feel some liquid going up your arm now, OK?

-Has that helped the pain at all?

-Yes.

With the morphine taking effect,

the paramedics can take Christine to hospital.

-You OK?

-Yeah.

-I'm ready, yeah.

Sarah wants to make the journey as smooth as possible.

There's a couple of speed bumps coming up now.

Maya's pain relief seems to be working.

As soon as they reach hospital, Christine is rushed into A&E,

where an X-ray will reveal the extent of the fracture.

Maya significantly reduced her patient's pain level.

Ready, steady, slide.

It was a job well done.

My confidence has definitely grown with each shift.

I only left university a few months ago,

so even though I am a graduate paramedic and I'm qualified,

my journey is only just beginning now.

In Chester, it's just after midnight

and Sarah's answering a 999 with colleague PC Ben Jones.

Their destination - a local hotel.

A female's been assaulted,

so we're basically right in the town centre,

so we're actually going to go straight to that.

One in ten emergency calls to the police involve domestic assaults.

For the Cheshire force, that's 4,000 incidents a year.

When they arrive, the hotel manager meets them.

There's a male and a female there now?

They're both still in the premises

but we've got her in one place and he's in another.

Do you want to come with me then I'll take you to him?

OK, do you want to speak to her and get details?

As Sarah heads off to find the woman,

Ben questions the male suspect.

-Are you known to the police at all?

-No.

-Never had any dealings with us?

-No.

-OK.

At the moment, we've only got one word against another,

but, obviously, it's quite important to get the facts.

Establishing the truth in domestic cases can be difficult,

even for veteran officers. Sarah's only a rookie.

She goes to interview the alleged victim

while the suspect waits outside.

The woman tells Sarah that she was struck by her partner

and marks on her face support her story.

I've spoken to the lady who has been assaulted

and she does want the partner dealt with by the police,

so she's very upset, understandably.

Sarah's heard and seen enough.

She decides the male suspect should be taken into custody.

I'm going to arrest you on suspicion of assault.

It's Sarah's first arrest for assault.

You do not have to say anything but it may harm your defence

if you do not mention when questioned something which

you later rely on in court.

Anything you do say will be given in evidence.

-Do you understand that?

-I do.

Sarah's caution was word perfect.

Time to take the suspect to the station.

As the arresting officer, it's down to Sarah to hand the suspect

over to the custody sergeant.

She must explain why she felt the arrest was justified.

I've arrested this man on suspicion of assault.

His partner has alleged that he's assaulted her

and she's got some injuries to her face.

Sarah goes to talk the suspect through the custody procedures.

Two months into the job, she's doing everything seasoned,

full-time officers do, just as the Cheshire Police

and Crime Commissioner predicted at her swearing-in ceremony.

You're fully fledged police officers in the sense that

you've got full police powers.

When people see you, they see a police officer.

They think that you've been doing this for 20 years

because I look like I've been doing it for 20 years and

they just expect you to know what to say,

so you basically go in and take control of the situation,

look like you've been doing it all your life.

You've got to remember your training, got to remember the law,

you know, and you've got to be compassionate and human.

The intoxicated man Sarah helped detain pleaded guilty to drunk

and disorderly and was given a conditional discharge

for six months.

Maya's patient, Christine, had broken her hip.

After undergoing surgery and having a metal plate fitted,

she hopes to return to work soon.

And the man Sarah arrested at the hotel

was later charged with assault by beating.

He faces a day in court.

Next time...

-a rush-hour crash...

-That's a bus.

..and Sam's biggest test yet...

Drop all the seats in here, lie her flat, put her on a board

and take her out that way.

..sickness at sea...

..and rescue on the river.

Laura rushes to help as a pleasure boat sinks...

..and cracking down on dangerous drivers.

Laurence and his colleagues are on the case.

-Do you know why you're being stopped?

-No.

You've just gone through a red traffic light.