Episode 17 Real Rescues

Today on Real Rescues: firefighters spend three days tackling

the West Midlands' biggest ever fire.

The height of the flames, and the smoke plume,

we had a smoke plume 6,000 feet up in the air

which is a staggering height.

The cause - a Chinese lantern.

A 999 call from a sports club.

A father collapses in front of his son on the badminton court.

He should've died that night but he was fighting all the way through

and when I saw him come back, when he finally regained consciousness,

it was the most wonderful feeling I've ever had in my life.

A dolphin weak and stranded in the River Dee

starts chatting as soon as help arrives.

CLICKING AND SQUIRTING

Welcome to Real Rescues,

going behind the scenes with all of our emergency services.

Every day of the year,

around 85,000 people in need of desperate help

dial 999 in Britain.

Those calls are routed into state-of-the-art centres like this.

The staff in here know that when lives may be at stake,

it's vital no time is lost.

The UK and Irish coastlines are dotted with lifeboat stations,

their powerful boats ready to be launched the moment

anyone is in danger out at sea.

They're usually saving people

but sometimes they're called in to help wildlife in danger.

Flint RNLI are heading to the River Dee at Saltney Ferry.

A dolphin has swum miles inland.

Experts have been waiting for it to swim free

but four days have passed - it needs help now.

The crew find a dolphin by the shore.

It is moving, but appears weak.

We got alongside the dolphin

and it was obvious that it was struggling,

it was on the side, it was on its side.

The dolphin allows lifeboat volunteer Rob to get up close

and stroke her.

Excellent.

And then really, when we got right up close next to it

and put our hands on it, it just seemed to calm down and settle down.

It just seemed to sort of accept that it needed help.

Within a few minutes, the dolphin starts chattering,

communicating with him.

CLICKING AND SQUIRTING

The crew need to get it out to deep water.

They're going to put it in their ambulance pouch.

This works as a stretcher

but they have no experience at fitting it around a dolphin.

It just stopped flapping around and allowed us

to do what we were going to do with it,

which was put the ambulance pouch underneath it

and float it into a bit deeper water.

The dolphin struggles as they work.

The experts believe the mammal swam up the river

during a high spring tide.

It's an extremely rare sight in this part of the UK.

We pulled it alongside next to the lifeboat in the ambulance bag,

kept it in the water for about five minutes to see

if it was going to make any effort to swim off or anything,

which it didn't, it just sort of carried on lying there.

ON RADIO: 'Flint Lifeboat, this is Flint Mobile.

'Flint Mobile receiving, over.'

The crew update control.

When we came alongside the dolphin, it was on its side

and floundering on the English side of the river.

We put two crewmen in the water, we've got it

and we're alongside it now in our ambulance pouch.

Just wondering for advice, over.

The decision is taken to lift the dolphin into the RNLI rib.

'Flint Lifeboat, this is Flint Mobile. For your information,

'we're now making our way towards your position, over.'

We made a decision to put it into the lifeboat.

It was quite heavy, it was probably about as tall as me,

it filled the lifeboat from bow to stern,

not something I was expecting it to do.

They're going to meet the all-weather Rhyl Lifeboat

and release the mammal three miles out in the open sea

but helming a boat with a six-foot dolphin on board is challenging.

She kept sliding backwards because of her weight, so we had to keep

stopping on the way out to sea to slide her forward to give me a bit

of room to enable us to keep driving because I was next to her tail.

On three. One, two, three...

It's a female dolphin. The crew tries to keep her

as relaxed as possible, dousing her with water.

A couple of crew were talking to her,

she was talking back in dolphin noises and clicks.

Erm, she was quite chatty, really.

They rendezvous with the Rhyl Lifeboat.

They will tie up alongside. On board are marine wildlife experts

who will help with the final release.

The dolphin is so weak, two crew get in the sea to support her.

It's been a team effort, but now it's all down to her.

They're doing all they can to help her,

making sure she's in the best possible position to start swimming.

It seems like an age, but after five minutes and a flap of the tail,

she's off.

It was a lovely feeling after the effort we'd put in all day

to see her in the water and then settle down a little bit

and then flap, and off she went, and she swam.

And as she swam, you could see her

sort of diving out of the water, really.

A couple of dives and off she went.

It's been a new experience for the crew and one of the most rewarding.

Everyone felt really good at the end of the day,

like we'd achieved something really special and she's out there

and she's enjoying the life that we gave her, really.

On duty in Bournemouth, emergency care practitioner Ray Thane.

He's a qualified nurse and paramedic.

He has a range of specialist skills and aims to keep patients

out of hospital, but he also deals with more serious emergencies.

It's a hot summer's day

and Ray's heading inland to a town just north of Bournemouth.

A woman is in severe pain after a fall.

Hello. Hello, there.

The emergency is all happening in a front garden.

What can we call you? Brenda.

Brenda, I'm Ray.

Brenda's neighbours found her in great distress.

So, where's the pain?

It feels funny down... Oh, it feels funny down here.

Feels funny down there? Yeah.

It's as though I'm lying on something - it's going like that...

You've got no pain in your neck or anything?

No. I could see that because...

Have you got any pain anywhere else? No, just me leg.

Have you got any pins and needles in your legs at all? No, no. OK.

How attached are you to these trousers?

Oh, no, it don't matter, take 'em off, I don't care.

Take 'em off.

You loose one, you.

Just take your trousers off! God, I don't know.

Ray suspects that Brenda has suffered a significant injury

but he needs to move her to a better position

before he can confirm his suspicion.

It's very difficult to assess you like this.

What do you want me to do? Can I help in any way?

Ideally, we need to get you onto your back, really.

Neighbour Alexandrina is thankful she heard Brenda's cries

and sent her husband to investigate.

We were actually sitting in the garden

and we heard somebody shouting "help"

but I just assumed it was the little boy next door climbing the tree.

And my husband said,

"Hang on a minute, I'll get the key and come round to you,"

and he disappeared and he didn't come back

so I thought that something's happened.

So I followed him, found my way to Brenda's

and he's on the phone, ringing 999.

Brenda's legs seemed to be different lengths

and that indicates something serious could have happened.

BRENDA GROANS So, where's the pain?

It's all over 'ere. All over there.

Oh, it's where that muscle was before.

OK, all right.

Can you lift this leg at all?

Oh, no. No, I can't. OK.

Ray updates Control, his fears are confirmed -

Brenda needs to get to hospital.

Uh, a bit of backup, please. MACHINE BEEPS

CONTROL: 'See what we can sort for you, Ray.'

This is a possible NOF.

An NOF is short-hand for a fractured neck of femur, or broken hip.

That leg is a lot shorter than this leg.

Now, it's not obviously rotated,

but it may do, because this is stopping it,

and that's a clinical sign of a broken hip.

How much pain are you in? Not a lot.

Yeah, I can put up with it.

No, you're not here to put up with things. I know, I'm OK.

It's only when I try to move my legs that it hurts.

Well, don't move your legs then. I won't, I promise.

Oh, dear. Now...

If I said nought was no pain, ten was the worst pain on this planet,

can you give me a number between nought and ten? About five.

Brenda is remaining stoical, this is an extremely painful injury,

but she seems to be coping well.

I'm just going to give Brenda some morphine,

cos the pain is quite considerable - 5/10.

The pain score is quite considerable.

The morphine quickly takes effect

and when the ambulance crew arrive and make their introductions,

Brenda's in good spirits.

Hello, you're looking cool there with your shades on.

Oh, dear, I just tried to water me garden and look how I've ended up.

Aw, sorry you've hurt yourself. My name's Andy.

Hello, Andy. Hello. I'm Brenda.

Hello, Brenda. Nice to meet you.

I've given a titrate of five of morphine,

so we've got a line in here, and that's helped, hasn't it?

Yes, it has helped.

With such a traumatic injury she needs to go to a specialist unit.

What I'm thinking is, you're quite out in the sticks,

without being rude. Yeah. So, we can either go to Salisbury...

Oh, no. Bournemouth. No, you can't get up.

The reason you can't go to Bournemouth is because...

They're full up. Yeah, everywhere is full up.

It's because you've had a traumatic injury,

only Poole specialise in hip fractures.

Poole. So, you'd prefer Poole? I'd rather go there.

The garden is on different levels.

They clear the area as best they can.

They need to handle Brenda as carefully as possible.

It's going to take all hands.

Ready, set, slide. Ooh. That's good.

All right, Dave, a little bit more, so the lady's central.

Everybody ready? Ready, set, slide.

Because we've got to move from there to there,

let's just put some straps around.

Twisting you a little bit. OK. Everybody ready? Yes.

Ready, set, lift.

Oh, Christ Almighty! Oh, my God, aren't they big and strong?

There we go.

Kath? Yes? I'll have my handbag and my key in it.

All right? There. This can come off now.

It's vital that they keep on top of the pain

so Brenda is comfortable on the journey to hospital.

Ray prepares some more morphine

before they wheel her to the ambulance.

The pain relief works immediately.

Brenda is now in the hands of the ambulance crew.

Ray's role in her rescue is over.

OK, Brenda, you take care now. Yes, thank you ever so much.

Look after yourself. Yes, I will, I'll try.

I won't water the garden again. No, get somebody else to do it.

You take care. Thank you. Thanks, guys.

Brenda will undergo X-rays at hospital.

We'll catch up with her progress.

Later, Ray has just the gadget to get Henry off the ground.

Isn't it clever?

We're about to see just how difficult rescues can get

for Britain's Fire and Rescue Service.

The blaze they're tackling is sending smoke 6,000ft into the air.

200 firefighters are needed, and it's

so tough some of the crew are treated in hospital for exhaustion.

CCTV at a recycling plant in the Midlands is about to capture

the cause of an inferno.

A tiny ball of light can be seen at the top of the screen.

It's a Chinese lantern

and it's this flame that starts a devastating fire.

Two hours later, this is the scene

at the plastics recycling plant at Smethwick.

It's the largest fire ever in the West Midlands -

10,000 tones of plastic waste is burning out of control.

Assistant Chief Fire Officer Phil Hales recalls

the sight as he made his way to the scene.

The fire itself covered a vast area, and I think that was one thing,

but it was also the height of the flames and the smoke plume.

We had a plume 6,000ft up in the air, which is a staggering height to see.

Bearing in mind it was dark,

I could still see the smoke plume as I got on the M6 at Walsall

from several miles away, so that gave me

an indication immediately that this was no ordinary fire.

Daryl Humpage was one of 200 frontline firefighters who responded

to the emergency 999 call.

The closer we got to the incident,

the flames were many metres high.

Pulsing smoke and it was getting larger

and larger as it was getting closer.

The recycling plant is on an industrial estate and it is

close to midnight so there's no-one on site and no lives are at risk.

But the battle is on to stop it spreading

and destroying everything in its wake.

There were 10,000 tonnes of material on fire and this was very

densely baled plastic and paper materials, which burn very rapidly.

We had 50mph winds that night in some places

so there was very strong winds going on

and it made it a very difficult, intense fire to deal with.

Fire crews are being called in from across the West Midlands.

The fire's so vast they need to attack it from all sides.

We had to work quickly to get the water on.

We were always making sure we were looking out for each other.

It was Phil Hale's job to work out a plan to tackle the massive blaze.

It was quite clear to me

we hadn't enough resources to put the fire out.

The fire was going to require

a massive amount of water to extinguish it.

So the initial plan was very much to protect the surrounding premises.

They're taking water from the Birmingham canal

as well as from the water main, but it's still not enough.

Maximum amount of water we had going on the fire at any one time

was 20,000 litres of water per minute

and there was no more water we could get for the fire ground.

Everything is against the firefighters.

The waste is tinder-dry after weeks of hot weather

and the flames are being fanned by the strong wind.

The plume of smoke is hundreds of metres high

and it seemed to be growing and growing every minute.

You could see the smoke going higher and higher

and drifting off miles.

The night wears on and they're no nearer to putting out the fire.

They're concentrating on creating a water curtain between the fire

and nearby buildings to stop them catching fire.

The firefighters are working in relays.

It felt like your skin was melting. Just felt really hot at the time.

We was doing it in teams of two so one would be on a water branch

trying to put the fire out

and the next team would have ten minutes rest and then we'd swap over.

So, again, you could work a longer time.

As night turns to day, the huge plume of black smoke is still

drifting across the estate.

The fire is still burning.

It looks like no-one will be working in the nearby units for some time.

When Ian Robbins first tried to get to his office at 9:00am

the roads into the estate were all closed.

I stood in the middle of the car park behind Hawthorns House

and I could feel the heat from that point.

There was a lot of smoke, very toxic.

And the fire service gave me a mask,

together with three of my managers,

just so we didn't inhale the nasty fumes from the fire, really.

Firefighters broke into Ian's company in the early hours and hosed

water onto their warehouse wall for hours to stop it going up in flames.

The wall was just 6m away from the fire.

There was a platform out in the road.

That was controlling the water onto the roof.

And, literally, there was hoses all the way through my building.

And they didn't want to take the hoses away,

even when they knew the building was out of danger, just in case.

They needed to keep everything in place.

There was miles and miles...

I've never seen so many hoses in my life.

Ian's job was to keep the distribution company

operating in spite of the damage.

The firefighters were still pouring water on the fire.

And that went on for three days before it was finally extinguished.

The fire caused ?6 million worth of devastation at the plastics

recycling plant.

Four firefighters had to be treated in hospital.

But no lives were lost and it could have been a very different story.

A firefighting point of view,

to have a fire of that magnitude, which was a major incident for us,

it really stretched our resources. And to actually have

the outcome that we did, I think it was a very positive result.

Despite the flood,

the office team manages to keep the business operating.

Eight weeks later, Ian's full of praise for the firefighters.

They did a fantastic job.

They were very personable people and nothing was too much trouble.

I can't speak highly enough of them in all honesty. They were brilliant.

It's important when you have an accident and call in 999 or

111 to tell the truth about what happened and as soon as possible.

To explain why it's so important, I'm chatting to Sam

about a call that came in here about a bike accident, ostensibly.

Yeah, that's right.

The call initially came through to 111 and it was passed for us

to give the patient a call back for a dental call.

He'd fallen off his bike and taken out his two front teeth.

And that was all the information that we had.

And when was this accident supposed to have happened?

Actually it turned out that the accident

had happened the night before

and it had taken him over 12 hours to phone us.

That's kind of odd, isn't it?

Yeah, he also didn't have any other type of injury,

no grazes, bruises, bleeding,

anything like that, so it was a bit suspicious.

So you start to get suspicious about what it is

and what is your general thought about what it might end up being?

Anything other than a motorbike accident really.

There would have been other signs to show that.

And if he had been in an accident,

I would have thought he would have called a bit sooner. Yeah.

So maybe he's involved in a fight or something

lost his two front teeth and doesn't want to tell the truth.

But he's left it so long...

Why would it have been a much better idea for him

to have dealt with it straight away

and told the truth about what might have happened to him?

In some cases when teeth fall out, you can actually have them

implanted back in,

your own teeth,

if you get hold of somebody within about a 30 minute timeframe.

It's not always the case

but that could have happened in that situation.

So this person who is now going to have major dental reconstruction

work could have avoided that and had his own front teeth re-implanted

if the moment he'd had the problem he'd have called straight away.

Absolutely. So the advice is be honest about it.

You're never going to judge them in terms of... No, never.

And just call as soon as you can. All right, smashing.

Thank you very much. Thanks.

Coming up on Real Rescues:

Paramedic Ray impresses Henry with his blow-up chair...

Isn't it clever?

HE LAUGHS

Going down, there was a very good...

..and Grace with his fine stitching.

How does that feel? It feels very comfortable.

It's one of the coldest winters on record.

Snow is causing travel chaos across the county.

In Derbyshire, that's going to mean the difference between life

and death for one man.

At the Etwall Leisure Centre

just outside Derby,

the weekly badminton club night is under way.

After a last-minute change of plan, Kerrie Webster has joined the group.

So that Friday night, it was freezing cold,

snow. I was supposed to go to somebody's birthday party,

didn't manage to get there, so decided to come to badminton instead.

Paul Glaze is playing with his dad, David,

when they find themselves on the losing team.

So, as we talked about having a rematch, I called Dad over

and said, "Come on, let's have one more game."

And he made a noise to me, like a bit of a grunt,

sort of, "Oh..." Like a sigh that he would make

if he was feeling a bit tired but he knew he had to do a bit more.

He made that the noise again and I thought, my initial reaction was,

"Oh, come on, Dad, you can play one more. You've got one more in you."

And he hit the floor and, basically, his head took the brunt of the fall.

When I saw that, I obviously realised something was wrong.

The thud on the floor, it was such a... It's a chilling noise.

I can still hear it now. I can still see it.

Not only is the club well equipped with a defibrillator,

which can shock a heart back into rhythm,

but also there is someone on-site tonight who has experience using it.

Little did I know that Kerrie was an off duty paramedic.

So, suddenly there's a relief there

because somebody who knows what they're doing is on hand

and is straight with my dad within seconds of it happening.

So, it was an absolute blessing really.

Kerrie has realised David is in cardiac arrest. She starts CPR.

The way he looked and the way he felt, it was just

a gut instinct that that wasn't a faint,

he wasn't just going to come back round on his own.

Another member of staff dials 999.

The control room has dispatched an ambulance.

As they wait at the leisure centre,

Kerrie is alone in knowing

the seriousness of the David's condition.

The son actually asked me

if he'd be all right and that was difficult to look him

in the eye and say, "I'm going to do everything I can,"

but actually knowing that I didn't know

whether it would be all right or not.

And if it didn't turn out as well as it did, whether I'd be able to

go back to the badminton group and face the same people again.

I knew that every second that we were doing CPR,

the longer we had to wait for an ambulance and definitive care,

I knew in my mind that we risked the chance of losing David that night.

And I had to not think about that

because the emotional attachment to it would've made me go to pieces.

So I had to pretend that I didn't know David, that

I was doing my job and I just had to keep going until we got some help.

Once manager Phil Templer arrives with his defibrillator,

Kerrie has a chance to get David's heart working again.

To stand there above and watch what was going on,

it was such a strange, surreal experience for me.

I've never ever seen anything like that occur before.

And I've never seen anything like that happen to my dad.

And when you see a man who you've looked up to for years -

for 30 years of your life, suddenly he's on the floor and he's helpless,

it's a horrible experience - I wouldn't wish it on anyone. So...

to see, sort of, her trying to get him back to life, it was...

it was wonderful to see her doing it but, also,

the other side of the coin was,

I hope she can do it because he seemed like he was gone.

The first shock of defibrillator works.

David's heart is back in working in rhythm.

Kerrie's relief is clear.

I tried to get up.

I remember trying to get up but my limbs wouldn't obey me.

I heard "David? David?" And I could see Kerrie leaning over me.

And the biggest emotion came over me. I felt stupid.

In fact they said, "Why do feel stupid?"

Because I'm suddenly helpless on the floor.

It was such a relief to see him, after two minutes, come back because

for the two minutes before that,

he sounded like a car that wouldn't start.

He was making a whirring noise inside of him

and it wasn't going, it wasn't going,

but all the way through it, you could tell he was fighting.

He should have died that night

but he was fighting all the way through it.

And when I saw him come back and he finally regained consciousness,

it was the most wonderful thing I've ever had in my life.

At hospital, David was found to have two blocked arteries.

He had two stents inserted and has made a good recovery.

He's delighted to be back with his family.

A big motivating force in my recovery has been my family,

especially my grandchildren - Ruby and Isla.

Thinking back on it, your mind starts racing and you're thinking,

"I never would've seen them again. I won't see them grow up.

"I won't see them get married." It really does... It troubles you.

Paul is relieved that fate dealt a good hand to his dad that night.

If Kerry had left half an hour earlier,

if the centre didn't have a defibrillator,

if my dad had decided to leave instead of having the rematch,

he would be dead now.

Although it's taken a while for him to recover,

I'm so grateful to the people who helped that night

because his granddaughters get to have their granddad.

Gemma is one of the managers of call takers.

I've asked her over here to have a chat about people

who don't necessarily want to be helpful on the phone.

There was a call from a chap

whose wife was ill. Yeah.

The wife wasn't very well, the husband was very concerned.

And as a process, we have a series of questions we need to ask them.

But some people are very reluctant to answer our questions

and it just can delay care, so...

So he was getting frustrated and you were trying to get information.

So, how was he reacting?

What was it that he thought was wrong with his wife?

He was worried about his wife.

His wife had very slurred speech,

which sets alarm bells going off in my head,

you know, stroke and things like that.

And I was trying to get him to answer questions but he was like,

"Oh, I just want to speak to a doctor."

He just doesn't... He wasn't cooperating with what I was saying.

He thinks it's delaying the care but actually

him not answering my questions was delaying the care.

And I suppose he's saying, "I need to speak to a doctor.

"I need someone who knows what they're doing."

But you have a set profile to deal with

and narrow down what the lady might be suffering from. Yeah, we have...

If I'm thinking of stroke,

I'd kind of go down the stroke assessment questions

and I'd only need to ask two or three questions and then an ambulance

would be on its way if it could be a suspected stroke.

OK, and in the circumstances, where that's happening, you can

actually pre-prepare the ambulance crews with

knowledge when they actually get on scene? Yeah.

The more they cooperate and answer our questions,

the more information we can give to the ambulance service as well.

And by delaying and arguing with you,

they might be delaying the whole process and indeed the information.

With stroke, it's really important to react quickly.

Yeah. Definitely with strokes.

But I suppose you can also understand that

people are nervous or upset or frightened?

Yeah, I mean, when someone is not well, they act differently

and if it's someone you love, you'd act differently as well, so...

So do you have to take a very stern line with people and try and...

Yeah. I've learned to be assertive. Have you really?

I suppose it's an important part of doing the course.

The important information is, if you don't want to delay,

then do give the information as concisely and quickly as possible.

It must be frightening, but help the caller gets

the information and they can help

the ambulance people and it'll make care that much quicker

for your loved one. Thank you very much. That's all right. Thank you.

Emergency care practitioner Ray is back on the road, heading east

out of Bournemouth. Another 999 call has come through.

He's been dispatched by control to treat the patient at the home.

We're going to a 84-year-old lady who's fallen over

and the crew that are there would like me to go along and have a look

and see what we can do.

Hello.

Ray finds his casualty in the warden's office at the flats

where she lives.

She's being helped home after falling over her walking aid

on the way back from a shopping trip. What may we call you? Grace.

Grace. I'm Ray.

Student paramedic Claire has already done the basic checks.

Chest, good air entry, sats are fine.

Blood pressure is fine, 118/68. Very healthy girl.

Whatever you're on, I want some! No pain at all.

Gracie is actually 89. Her arm has taken the brunt of her fall.

The thinning skin has left her with two open wounds.

One has been dressed but the other needs stitches.

There's one here that I'm a little bit worried about.

Underneath the actual flap there is some fatty tissue which

I was a little bit worried about, under there.

Grace doesn't want to go to the hospital.

If Ray can close the wound up safely,

Grace will get her wish and stay out of A

First he needs to clean it up.

We've got a sore. There, or there?

What would you like?

Right, let's have a look. We can do a deal on this, can't we?

Let's have a little look.

Ray is keeping Grace's spirits up but the worst bit is to come.

So I can see what I am doing,

this needle is not going anywhere into you or near you.

It's just so that I can spray water.

That is not nice.

Reattaching the skin flap is a delicate job.

Ray's using Steri-Strips.

I can't stitch this because it's too near the surface of the skin

so what we need to do is to gradually build all this up

so that this...

Oh, look. This is marvellous. ..skin will close the wound up.

I hope I'm going down as a very good patient. You are.

You get today's star prize. A lollipop?

No, I can't afford a lollipop! You can get the stick!

Ray's finished dressing Grace's arm. His work is done.

Another satisfied customer. How does that feel? It feels very comfortable.

OK. Thank you very much for all your help. That's all right. Thank you.

It's what we're here for.

The next callout is further along the coast.

This time, a 68-year-old man has fallen badly and can't get up.

Ray finds Henry flat out in front of his house. Hello, sir.

What can I call you? Henry. Henry. His wife, Vivian, called 999.

Henry fell heavily, hitting his head.

He's sure he wasn't knocked out. So what's happened today?

I parked my electric wheelchair in the garage. Right.

I tried to walk back in the house. OK.

I was walking up the ramp just there which you can see

and I just missed it and fell over.

Missed and fell over. Right.

Have you got any pain anywhere at all? No.

I've got soreness in my left side where I fell. And your shoulder.

This is paralysed this side. Right, OK.

He complained of pain in that left shoulder. Right.

OK.

It feels all right now.

Henry lost the use of his left side after

an operation for a spinal tumour almost 30 years ago.

However, he can still feel pain.

OK. Right.

Right, now then, we need to get off this floor, don't we?

That's the big one!

That's a good idea. I'll go and get a chair. Right.

I have a little device.

Oh, you've got a blow-up balloon, have you?

I've got an ejector seat for you.

Let me go and get it.

Ray's new gadget is perfect helping patients like Henry.

I'm going to use this device to get him up off the floor.

In the bag is an inflatable chair. Right, now then.

Ray simply slides it under Henry,

then an electric pump fills it with air.

There we go.

Right.

And within five minutes, Henry is not only upright,

but very impressed.

Isn't it clever?

That was wonderful, absolutely brilliant. You're a clever man.

That's only half of it. I've got to sort your head out now.

It's all right.

Despite all the blood, the wound is only superficial.

Ray is able to close it up with the tissue glue he carries.

You've glued that, have you?

I've glued that, so that's formed a scab now.

Henry and his wife have been briefed to look out for any worrying

symptoms of head injuries. Take care, Henry. Look after yourself.

Thanks for your help. You're welcome. Ray can get on his way.

Bye-bye now.

All Henry's observations are good,

so Ray can leave and get back on stand-by for the next emergency.

If you do need us, then call us, all right? Thank you.

Have you ever heard someone say

that the older generation are made of different stuff?

They don't like to complain too much.

That might not be a good thing.

Phil's not on a call. Are we able to talk to you, Phil?

Yeah, that's fine.

I was just saying about elderly people not wanting to complain.

You've had very serious illnesses

which haven't been directly reported

because the person doesn't want to make a fuss. That's right.

And generally, it's the elderly generation.

On the occasion, I've had somebody ring up and say,

"Look, I've had this indigestion-type pain about three days ago.

"It's come back now."

And I think to myself, "Why didn't they ring earlier

"because then it's damage limitation

"if there is something wrong with the heart?"

And it really is worth getting in touch quickly because,

as we've shown on the programme,

get someone to hospital fast enough, with the techniques they've got now,

they can very often remove a clot causing a heart problem

and you can go back to a very healthy life directly afterwards.

Oh, yeah. Without a doubt. When you think about what a heart attack is,

it's a blood clot blocking an artery or a blood vessel,

and then the oxygen in the blood doesn't get past there,

so, in fact, that heart muscle tends to waste away.

So the quicker you can get to hospital and get treated,

the less damage it causes.

All right. So, how do you tell the difference, then,

between indigestion, bad indigestion, and a heart attack?

Or can't you? Basically, you don't.

Normally, if you're the sort of person that doesn't ordinarily

have indigestion and you get this type of pain,

then you need to seek advice from your doctor or,

in a case like this, in your chest, ring for an ambulance.

But if you are the sort of person that does get this sort of thing,

but it's just worse, then you can still call us.

All clinicians that look at the ECG machine

will be able see immediately if there is something happening

or there's a cardiac event happening.

They will be able to read that pretty quickly.

So don't worry about making a fuss.

If you're feeling bad, make sure you get checked out.

Thank you very much. I'll let you get back to it. Thank you.

Evening rush hour.

Traffic cops Steve Leathersich and Russ Irwin

are on duty in Milton Keynes.

We've had a report of a two-vehicle RTC.

Possibly a rear-end shunt.

One of the people that is calling in is apparently

struggling to keep their eyes open at the moment

and complaining of neck pain. We don't know how serious this is.

A local police officer and a paramedic are already at the scene.

The accident has happened at a junction

between the four carriageways.

Which car were you in? I'm in the 407.

Right, do you want to come over here and have a chat?

The Peugeot has hit the Audi.

Inside, the passenger is complaining of pain in the head

and neck to the paramedics

and of not being able to keep his eyes open.

The driver is talking to PC Leathersich.

Right, is it your car? It is my car, yeah. It is. OK.

The chap in the car, who's he? He's my friend. He's a friend of yours.

OK.

Have you got any form of recovery? AA or something?

OK, we'll see what happens with your friend.

It might be that if he continues struggling with pain,

we'll have to take the roof off the car. All right.

We'll see how it goes from there. All right?

Both cars were waiting, one behind the other, at the junction.

It appears the driver of the Peugeot has looked left,

seen the way is clear, felt it safe to proceed.

Unfortunately, he didn't look to see if the Audi had moved forward.

So he has gone forward. We are talking very, very slow-speed impact.

The only damage from the collision is a small dent in the car.

Inside, the paramedic is checking the passenger's breathing

in a bid to find out what, if any, injuries he's suffered

before they get him out.

There's only minor damage to the grille of the Peugeot.

This has not been a high-impact collision.

The paramedics have now got the man out of the car

with some careful choreography.

He's on a board, his spine protected.

PC Leathersich is all too aware of the dangers of working on the road.

I'm just thinking if someone loses their footing

because they are still coming past reasonably quick.

The passenger is on his way to the ambulance

for a more thorough checkup.

The driver of the Peugeot is sent on his way with a police report.

You got everything? Yeah. OK.

This will be a case for the insurance company.

It wasn't on purpose. I didn't do it on purpose. All right. Thank you.

Cheerio.

There's no need for recovery of this vehicle either.

The Audi driver will meet up with his friend at hospital later.

All that's left to do is pack up.

The traffic cops are ready for their next callout.

Brenda, the 70-year-old women, who was treated by paramedic Ray Thane

after falling over in her garden, did suffer a broken hip.

It's been a difficult time for Brenda.

She's out of hospital and, despite everything,

she is managing to keep her spirits up.

The huge fire at the Jayplas recycling plant in Smethwick

put the site out of action for more than six months.

The West Midlands Fire Service spent three days tackling the fire,

which was started by a Chinese lantern dropping onto the site.

It's quite clear on the CCTV footage that you see a Chinese lantern

drifting across the site.

It lands on one of the plastic stacks,

the bales of recycled material. It bounces

and then disappears.

And about eight minutes after that, the fire starts in that bale.

This catastrophic fire should not have happened.

Chinese lanterns are a growing problem.

In one year alone, a third of Britain's fire brigades received

callouts to extinguish lanterns.

Now, West Midlands Fire Service is joining the call

for the lanterns to be banned.

Chinese lanterns are a flame which is allowed to go in the sky

and then drift around and land anywhere, still burning.

And that just doesn't make sense at all.

I have to admit, I've actually lit and launched them.

I thought they looked very beautiful, without ever wondering

where they come to land and what they might set fire to.

I don't think I'll be lighting any more.

That's it for today's Real Rescues. See you next time.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd