Episode 10 Close Calls: On Camera

A close call... A moment of danger

when life can hang in the balance.

Oh, my God!

A split second where the outcome could go either way.

If he's alive, it's going to be a miracle, really.

The difference between disaster and survival.

He was shouting, "Don't die, Mummy!"

These are the people who have been there and lived to tell the tale.

I thought he'd broken his neck.

Their instincts and resources,

coupled with the quick thinking of others,

helped to pull them through.

We were just engulfed in flames.

And their dramatic experiences were recorded on camera.

Jimmy, are you all right?

'I wasn't going to be coming up.'

It was curtains. It was over.

It's a day they'll never forget.

The day they had...a close call.

Today, on Close Calls...

A couple asleep in their beds get a terrifying delivery

from a Royal Mail lorry,

which smashes through the front of their home.

I heard a crash and then an almighty collision.

I suppose it was just a matter of seconds,

but it seemed to go on forever.

And a top water ski jumper hits the takeoff ramp at 70mph.

His approach is wrong. His skis splay.

He hurtles towards the water at breakneck speed,

and he knows he's in big trouble.

When you stop from going that fast to that slow,

it's like crashing your car into a wall.

Also...

A car in flames in a driveway threatens to engulf a home.

An explosion shocks the driver.

-BANG

-BLEEP!

He dials 999.

Fareham, Hampshire.

Firefighters attempt to remove a 7.5 tonne lorry

from a couple's front room.

It's veered across a main road, crashing into the house.

The owners were in bed in the room above.

It was like an earthquake.

Walls just started cracking in front of me.

All we heard was the neighbours scream,

"Are you all right? Are you all right?"

But they are not all right.

Len Wiles and his wife, Ann, are trapped in their bedroom.

Part of the stairs have been ripped out

and the entire building is in danger of collapse.

They can only sit and wait

while rescue workers figure out a way to get them out before it falls.

Temperature is about 70.

Retired couple Len and Anne Wiles

have lived in their modern three-bed home for just over a year.

But because of Anne's recent health problems,

they've decided to sell up and

are looking forward to moving into a new house more suited to her needs.

But those plans are about to suffer a dramatic set-back.

It is nearly 6am on a Wednesday.

Ann and Len are tucked up in bed.

I would normally be up, but I had a bit of a cold.

I hadn't slept that well, anyway.

I was going to get up, go downstairs as normal. Make a cup of tea.

But I didn't.

So I got up out of bed and I thought, "Oh, I'm tired,

"I'll sit on the edge of the bed for five minutes."

Any other day, I would have been downstairs, in the lounge.

It is a slight change in the routine, but a bigger one is coming.

Then I heard a crash, which I thought was on the main road.

And then an almighty collision.

And I heard a rumbling and crushing noise.

I suppose it was just a matter of seconds,

but it seemed to go on forever.

Our roller blind shot across my head.

And I don't understand what was happening.

And then suddenly Len said, "What the hell was that?"

He went out onto the landing.

The next thing I heard him saying, "Oh, no, no!" And starting to cry.

"Oh, my God. Oh, my God!" he was saying.

And then we see a Royal Mail lorry, a 7.5 tonne Royal Mail lorry,

which was in the lounge, basically.

Moments earlier, the lorry had been travelling along the main road

towards the couple's home.

Because of the early hour, there is very little traffic about.

The lorry suddenly veers across the road, mounts the pavement

and crashes through a driveway wall.

It ploughs on, hitting Anne and Len's parked car, spinning it round

before smashing into their house,

ending up with the driver's cab in their lounge.

All the banister and that was all gone.

And everywhere on the landing.

And there was a gaping hole in the stairs.

From the landing, I was looking down on top of his cab.

You could just smell all the fumes and everything coming up.

And my first thought was, "I wonder if the lorry driver is OK."

Miraculously, he is. Although a bit dazed, the driver appears unhurt.

I did see the driver get out.

And he was just muttering, "I don't know what happened."

And the next thing is we heard neighbours outside shouting.

"Anne, Len, are you all right? Are you OK?"

They are uninjured, but Anne and Len are still in serious danger.

Most of the staircase has been smashed away.

It is an eight-foot drop onto the rubble below.

They are trapped upstairs, in their own home.

We hadn't realised at first the seriousness of the cracks

and all that in the wall,

how dangerous it was. It could collapse at any time.

Later, fire crews to the rescue.

But getting Anne and Len safely out of the property is going to be

a risky business.

The main risk was if we make the staircase collapse, that may

then push the end wall out, which may then collapse the roof as well.

Coming up...

Matt bought himself a car yesterday.

He has just parked on his driveway. And now...this.

-BANG

-BLEEP!

The fire is threatening his home.

I thought, "Any minute now, the bay window is going to shatter."

Hazelwood Ski World in Lincoln.

Spectators capture the shocking moment competitive water skier

Will Critchley hits a ramp at 70mph,

takes off and loses his balance...

with devastating consequences.

Will's brother Jack, a fellow skier, is watching on in shock.

You kind of just hope for the best -

that he didn't have a broken back

or was paralysed for the rest of his life.

25-year-old Will Critchley comes from a family

of passionate water skiers.

Growing up in Scunthorpe with support from his parents,

his three brothers all excelled at the high-speed sport.

But Will - that's him on the left, age 15 - was a late bloomer

and only got into it seven years ago.

My brothers have water skied from a very young age.

I didn't take it up until I wanted to go on holiday

to visit my brother, cos he lives in America.

So I just took it up from there. Enjoyed it, loved it...

And that's how I got into it.

Amateur skier Will is a roofer by trade

and is passionate about his sport.

He competes at the highest level,

in an extreme version of waterskiing called ski flying,

where this skier is towed by a boat reaching speeds of 70mph

before taking off from a ramp and landing on the water.

Will is ranked in the world's top 40.

The objective is just to get as far away from the ramp as you can.

And you get measured from the top of the ramp to the

back of your skis when you land.

Will often reaches distances of over 200 feet

when leaving the ramp at top speed.

It is just the rush you got.

When you hit the ramp at 70mph

and you come off and you've got the skis in front of you

and you are flying, then that is the best feeling in the world.

Will's ambition has been to give up his day job

and tour the world as a professional competitor.

But he's always been aware of the hazards.

Injury for somebody like me that has not quite hit the pros,

that has to go to work, it is a big problem.

So, yeah, it is in the back of your mind every jump.

Will's older brother, Steve, is already a professional skier,

living out in America, while his younger sibling, Jack,

is currently ranked as the best in the UK under the age of 21.

Me and Jack are always within a foot of each other.

I'd like to think that I'm kind of beating Will now,

just by a couple of metres.

I am better in my opinion. He'll be better in his opinion.

He thinks he is better.

Their cheerful sibling rivalry brings both Will and Jack

to an event at Hazelwood Ski World in Lincoln on a warm July day.

Conditions are perfect for landing some big jumps.

On the day, I physically, mentally, couldn't wait to get on the water.

So I'm the next on the water. I get on the water, I feel good.

And this is my first jump. I wanted to do it on my first jump.

I wanted to go along way.

He came round just like normal - it all looked fine.

We have the ramp and then we'll have markers down the lane.

And they tell you how far away from the ramp you are.

To build up momentum into the jump, Will has to turn sharply, or cut,

behind the boat to line up with the ramp.

So the later that you leave it

to do your initial cut behind the boat,

the faster you're going to have to go in front of the ramp

to make it on there.

And I left it at a couple of feet too late.

Filmed by the competition cameraman,

this is the moment Will hits the ramp that day, at around 70mph -

as fast as a car going full speed on the motorway.

But he has lost control.

When you hit the ramp, you want to be compact.

And I had hit it, and I was tall.

So I had already stood up before the ramp.

The ramp is at six-feet tall.

So you do 70mph and hit a six-foot ramp...

In the short amount of distance that the ramp is, you crumble.

Will's skis are splayed as his body somersaults headfirst

towards the water.

Watching on, Will's brother Jack knows something has gone very wrong.

As soon as he hit the ramp, his skis were gone straightaway,

so you kind of knew straightaway that he was going to crash.

First thought that went through my mind off the top of the ramp...

was probably, "I hope I don't die. I hope nothing breaks.

"I hope my skis are going to be fine.

"I hope I can go to work on Monday."

There's just a million things... And then you hit the water,

and then that gives you all your answers.

I quickly ran down to the dock to make sure he was all right.

Tried really not to...not to think of the worst that could happen.

When you stop from going that fast to that slow,

it's like crashing your car into a wall.

There's going to be repercussions.

Will crash lands, his back has taken the full impact.

Other skiers, acting as rescue swimmers,

launch themselves into the lake.

Fellow competitors, they know the hazards.

Will could be facedown, unconscious and in danger of drowning.

One of them, David Canaan,

spots the signs from the moment Will hits the ramp.

He was upside down, he was in trouble. And we know that was it.

"Here we go," and we get in the water.

These photographs taken by another skier show the moment David,

on the left, and another rescuer reach Will.

Thankfully, he is conscious.

He was facing up the right way, so we didn't have to roll him over.

The first question we asked is, you know, "What hurts, what's going on?"

And, I mean, he said his neck and his back was hurting.

So that sends the alarm bells flying straight off.

My neck wouldn't move. I couldn't move anything without pain.

So I had to float in the water.

They put a stretcher under me in the water.

And they had to get a group of guys to lift me

out of the water on the stretcher.

David and the other rescuers get a pale

and shocked Will back to his towboat.

He got onto the bank and I tried to, like...

I just kind of stayed on the bank.

I kind of knew he was very badly injured just by him

being on the board and not actually walking.

Just saying the usual sort of things,

"You'll be all right. Calm down. Take deep breaths."

Trying to keep him sort of under control and calm

until the ambulance arrived.

Will has crashed before, but never this badly.

He has taken the full force of the impact on his back.

He is beginning to worry that he may have done some irreversible damage.

So I start taking my gloves off

and I couldn't touch my fingers together.

There was so much pain, I had to leave my gloves on.

So I was worried about my vertebrae and the nerves

and hitting things like that.

So that was the most worrying part, was the feeling I had in my hands.

Will is immobilised and rushed to hospital by ambulance.

The seriousness of the accident is beginning to

sink in with his brother Jack.

I've never seen him being taken away in an ambulance before,

and I've seen him take some pretty bad crashes. Um...

I kind of just... Kind of just hope the best, that he

didn't have a broken back or, like,

was paralysed for the rest of his life.

And at the hospital,

Will is terrified that his injuries may be life-changing.

When you're laid there, you wonder why you are still laid there.

"Why haven't they got me up? Why haven't they got me out?

"Why am I still in this stretcher? Why can't I move?"

Worried doctors immediately send Will for a Cat scan,

which reveals to everyone's surprise and relief that he has escaped

without any broken bones or internal injuries.

But he is injured.

It is 48 hours before he leaves hospital,

battered and bruised, and four months before he could work again.

I couldn't move my neck for about two months.

I was basically looking straight and I was stiff.

And if I wanted to look around,

it was a case of twisting my whole body to look anywhere.

I had to wait until I could move again

and get around and feel strong again.

It took a long time.

It's almost a year later before Will decides to risk a return to the

ramp and attempts to jump again.

He knows it is a make or break decision,

and he's nervous as he makes his approach.

All the way down the lake, you're thinking,

"Don't do the same again, don't do the same again,

"don't do the same again."

You're just hoping that your skis are in front of you

and that you're going to land with two feet.

It's a big relief.

You're fine, you've landed on two skis, you're good.

Now back to full fitness and competing again,

in the near future, Will is hoping to break into the world's top 20,

turn professional and earn his living doing the sport he loves.

And now I've accepted I probably am going to have another few crashes.

And this could happen again.

But I'm fortunate to be able to have that opportunity to have more.

I don't want any more,

but I am back skiing and I am lucky to be able to do it.

Streetly, Birmingham.

Matt's new car is on fire on his driveway.

Just moments ago, he was behind the wheel. But now, he's filming it burn.

And suddenly...

-BANG

-BLEEP!

An explosion.

The car is dangerously close to Matt's house

and the flames are growing.

40-year-old Matt works in the family business fixing electric motors

for industrial machinery.

When people are in trouble and an electric motor fails,

they usually want it back very quickly.

We're prepared to get them up and running again.

But Matt is about to have a problem with another sort of motor - his car.

He has just bought it second-hand for £15,000

after deciding to upgrade to a larger vehicle

to carry the equipment for his favourite hobby.

I do a lot of fishing. I thought, the four-wheel drive

and plus being a bigger style car would be just what I needed, really.

But it didn't work out to be quite that.

Matt is driving home from his office.

It is an eight-mile, 30-minute commute.

Today, he has decided to take the back roads because of road works.

And just drive it home steadily, up the road,

right in the rush-hour traffic, pulled up on my drive...

Just as I got out, I just noticed something. I just looked.

I thought the head gasket had gone.

Cos it looked more like steam. And then it just went up orange,

as the flames were, you know, going up.

I...backed off a little bit and I phoned the fire brigade.

Matt dials 999. This is the fire service's recording of his call.

As Matt briefs the call handler, the flames intensify.

He begins to realise it could get out of hand. It is tea-time and

neighbouring families are arriving home from school.

Unable to tackle the flames himself and appalled to see his

newly bought car ablaze, Matt decides to record the fire.

His mobile phone footage shows the rampant ten-foot flames.

He is terrified the car could explode at any moment.

You know, it is petrol at the end

of the day and it's got no respect, has it?

Suddenly, a loud bang startles Matt.

-BANG

-BLEEP!

One of the front tyres has burst in the extreme heat.

But the shock has heightened Matt's anxiety.

And he suddenly realises his whole home is at risk.

I thought, "Any minute now, the bay window is going to shatter."

The flames are now just inches from the lounge window.

If it breaks, there is a real chance his front room will go up.

The fire service are racing to the scene, and they share Matt's worries.

En route, we could see the thick, black, acrid smoke being given

off by the fire, so we knew we had got a very well-developed car fire.

Therefore, our concern was, has it spread to the house as well?

Just 3.5 minutes after dialling 999, the firefighters arrive.

Matt's phone footage shows them battling the blaze.

Car fires do start. It can be so serious.

Because of the large amount of fuel that are carried within the cars,

they can accelerate relatively quickly.

The gases that are given off, especially in car fires,

are so carcinogenic to us.

So we make sure we are all wearing breathing apparatus.

Thick smoke fills the street as the fire crews blast

the engine bay with water.

As soon as it was ascertained by the officer in charge that there

was nobody in the house, and nobody in the car, etc,

we were able to get on with tackling the fire in the way

we wanted to, with obviously the concern that we'd made

sure we had a water jet round the other side of the car

just to protect the building from any further damage.

The quick action of the fire service brings the blaze under control,

saving the house. But nothing could save Matt's car.

It has been completely gutted.

Matt snaps some pictures of the burned-out vehicle.

It is impossible to know how the fire started,

and it is terrifying to think he was just inches from the inferno.

If it could go up that quickly, in five seconds,

I just thought what'd happen if it's left and it carries on

like that and the fire brigade had turned up so quickly.

It is obvious from the intense scorch mark on Matt's

driveway that the house could have easily gone up.

Matt was very, very fortunate.

It was a car fire that developed very quickly.

And he noticed it at the early stages

and was able to get out of the car and move to a safe distance.

The fire brigade said if I was, you know, on the motorway

or something happened,

I could've, you know, it could've been quite nasty.

There's something about being at home that makes us feel safe

and cosy, especially when we are tucked up in bed.

But when something goes dramatically wrong, well, it is a real shock.

Back in Hampshire, householders

Anne and Len have had a terrifying early morning wake-up call.

A Royal Mail truck has left the road

and careered into the front of their house,

trapping them in their upstairs bedroom.

When the lorry hit, it hit with such a force,

the foundations of the house were moved.

Shocked onlookers and neighbours have dialled 999.

Crews from Hampshire Fire and Rescue rush to the scene,

under the control of station manager Paul Coates.

We were fortunate that where the lorry had hit

the wall and the cars,

that he'd taken all his speed out.

If he hadn't hit the wall, he'd have gone straight through the house.

And it would have been like a pack of cards, a full collapse,

with the people in there.

But rescuing Anne and Len is still going to be a tricky task.

The front door wouldn't open, it was jammed. It was wedged in.

They tried, they couldn't open the front door.

The fire crew will have to break the door down.

But sending firefighters up the collapsed staircase

of the unstable house would be dangerous for everybody.

The potential was, where he's gone in to the end of the building,

if we make the staircase collapse, that may then push the end wall out,

which may then collapse the roof as well.

Paul decides it is safer for the couple to stay put upstairs

and sends a firefighter up a ladder to their window to reassure them.

The fire officer comes to the window and said,

"Were you expecting a parcel?"

And it was a silly joke, but it was funny at the time.

But Anne is feeling unwell and in shock.

A paramedic is sent up to help her.

By this time, I was really shaking and hyperventilating.

I felt really ill. And they gave me some oxygen.

I was just so much in shock.

The lady wasn't feeling too well, so we didn't really want them

walking down the ladder.

We could have carried her, but that's... Again,

it's not an easy thing to do.

So we called in an aerial ladder platform from Southsea.

The only way to get Anne and Len out is by the bedroom window

at the front of the house.

But Paul won't be taking any risks

until he is sure the rescue attempt can't endanger the couple further.

The crews basically went up with sledgehammers and crowbars

and took the window out.

It wasn't very pretty, but we did it.

The main risk was the building collapse.

And one of the ways we get round that is where

we have cracks in walls, we use a pen to put a line on it.

You put safety officers in,

looking to make sure that the cracks are not getting bigger.

Fortunately, the house seems to be stable enough for

Anne and Len to be led out.

We had to follow the firemen right to the front bedroom,

they had taken the window out.

We had to keep right against the wall, away from the stairs.

And they put...

I think it was a chest of drawers or something down

for us to stand on, to climb out onto the platform.

A relieved Anne and Len are lowered gently down to the ground.

And then the full horror of what has happened to them starts to sink in.

It was devastating to see everything just in a big jumble.

You go to bed, you wake up,

and you've lost everything within an hour.

You've lost your car, you nearly lose your life,

you lose your house...

And to see it all ruined, you know, it was just devastating.

The couple would not be going back into their house for three to six

months while it was being rebuilt,

and they had nothing other than what they were stood in.

Anne and Len are distraught.

Paul calls in volunteers to help support them.

The Red Cross volunteers, they were superb. Absolutely superb.

Can't praise them all enough.

With Anne and Len safe and being comforted, Paul and his colleagues

need to try and prevent the entire building collapsing.

They call in the local council's building control manager,

John Shore, to assess the damage. And he films the wreckage for his report.

The whole of the building, towards the rear of the property,

aboveground,

had shifted by approximately an inch to an inch and a half,

and that was really why we put metal props between the two buildings,

basically, to ensure that one building was supported off

the other building when we removed the lorry.

We let the tyres down, the lorry went down by about an inch.

There was no movement, so at that point,

we started gingerly moving the lorry out inch by inch.

I was crossing my fingers

to make sure that the building didn't collapse.

But thankfully, it stayed intact.

It takes six hours from the lorry hitting the property to it

being removed, but the repercussions go on a lot longer for all concerned.

The driver of the lorry had suffered

a suspected medical event but was unhurt.

The house has now been repaired and is as good as new,

though Anne and Len don't lived here any more.

As the rebuilding process was going to take a long time,

they accepted an offer from the Royal Mail to buy

the house from them, allowing them to move on and into a new home.

But they are never going to forget the last day they lived there.

I really am thankful to the emergency services.

I really am.

Cos I don't know what would've happened without them that day.

So thankful seeing no-one was killed or injured,

last of all the driver.

For whatever reason, I didn't go downstairs that day.

So I don't mind having a cold no more!

Because it saved my life, literally saved my life.

Well, thank goodness that Len had that extra ten minutes in bed.

Join us next time for more tales of survival from people who have

had a close call.