Episode 4 Real Rescues

Today on Real Rescues...

A huge wildfire tears through the ancient heathlands of Ashdown Forest.

It's definitely coming this way!

People and buildings are in its path.

Closest property to fire is Heather Cottage.

The fire front is moving in the direction of that property.

The RNLI lifeboat heads out to rescue two kayakers

in danger of freezing off the Welsh coast.

And a four-year-old dials 999 after Mum collapses.

Hello and welcome to Real Rescues.

Extreme weather always puts pressure on the emergency services.

The tinder-dry summer often leads to an outbreak of grass and forest fires

and they can be some of the toughest to fight.

When a small fire begins in the ancient Ashdown Forest,

incidentally fictional home of Winnie the Pooh's 100 Aker Wood,

conditions could not have been more challenging.

There's no water on site, there are strong winds and high summer temperatures.

And if they don't get it under control,

it could overrun nearby homes and businesses.

A wildfire is tearing through gorse in the forest.

It started early afternoon. Two hours later, 60 acres are alight.

100 fire-fighters are on the scene,

16 appliances, two water carriers and six off-road vehicles.

The only way to keep track of the flames is from the police helicopter overhead.

On board, fire-fighter, Matt Hitam.

How far would we say that fire's off those properties? 200 metres?

It's up to him to give the first warning of where the fire is heading.

'Closest property to fire is Heather Cottage.

'The fire front is moving in the direction of that property.'

At one of the properties, the headquarters of Cats Protection,

a worried member of staff catches the fire on his mobile phone.

It's definitely coming this way.

'When we got up close,'

we could see that it was out of control.

It was moving very quickly by that time.

With fire crews from neighbouring West Sussex and Kent now on the ground,

control of the operation moves to Assistant Chief Fire Officer, Gary Ferrand.

When I arrived at the scene, we had a fire which seemed to be getting out of hand.

If that wind changed direction again,

the fire gets away from us,

then people are in hazardous situations.

Buildings are in the line of fire, so to speak.

From the air, fire-fighter Matt has to keep across each fire front,

directing resources, trying to contain it.

Fortunately, it was mainly gorse, very thick.

Gorse particularly does burn quite ferociously.

The conditions were absolutely perfect for this fire.

It was almost a perfect storm.

The fire-fighters are manning the bridleways, natural fire breaks,

and tackling the flames in sections.

They have to prevent the fire leaping the breaks.

But they need huge amounts of water and there's no natural supply.

It all has to be brought in on vehicles and stored in a large plastic dam.

They also have a limited supply of foam,

but most of the flames are going to have to be beaten out by hand.

With the changing winds, this is a dangerous and unpredictable environment for fire-fighters.

Normally, your first indication, rather than sight, is actually hearing it.

It does make quite a loud sound

and when you can hear it coming towards you,

then that's the time we start getting ourselves prepared

and making sure everyone's in the right place.

They're losing the battle to stop the flames at the bridleways.

In the helicopter, Matt has to alert fire chiefs. They are now in danger as well.

'There is a third section travelling back towards command unit.'

At the same time, another firewall is being pushed by the wind at speed towards the charity HQ.

Sheltering inside, members of staff and many animals.

The wind had changed. The fire front had moved.

And it was moving quite rapidly towards the Cats' Protection League.

It was moving faster than a walking pace and it was a large fire front.

'To Command Support, over. Go ahead.

'Gary, the fire nearest to the property, fire starting to break through standing timber.

'Suggest deploy as many resources as possible down to that end.'

A period of time went on. I could feel the wind had changed.

So then I became concerned that it could have been here within about 20 minutes.

Our focus of attention was to protect that building and those occupants.

We did that by moving in from the fire where it had already burnt

so we were coming at it from behind.

And moving ahead of it from the Cats' Protection League

towards the fire front.

So we tackled it from two directions.

With temperatures already in the high 20s,

it's gruelling work.

Wild fire-fighting is probably one of the most arduous jobs that we do.

Because of the equipment we have to wear, our fire kit.

Normally, if it's wild fire it means the weather conditions are hot.

And length of time we're normally there for. Hours.

The temperature of the day was probably the hottest day of the year.

And coupled with the hot fire situation, we end up potentially with fatigue,

fire-fighters that need to be changed around rapidly.

That stuff in the western corner seems to be pretty much fading out.

No flames. OK.

I think it has stopped it.

After several hours of trying to contain the fire,

there's finally some good news.

The wind starts to drop off.

There is that tipping point in the incident

where things can either get away from you, and you realise you've lost the fire,

and the other side of that is where you're on top of the fire,

you're controlling it and extinguishing it.

That came about four hours into the incident.

The fire has been stopped just short of the buildings.

In the end, it was a couple of hundred metres.

But considering the distance and speed that this fire travelled up until that point,

it could have done 200 metres in a matter of minutes.

I wouldn't have wanted it any closer than that.

All in all, 60 acres of heathland had been burned.

This was a large fire, and we did put a lot of resources to it. But in the big scheme of things,

the damage that was caused to the Ashdown Forest was actually quite minimal.

So the crews were very delighted with the outcome.

Fire-fighters will work on into the night to make sure the flames don't re-ignite.

Most of the forest has survived

and the local residents remain unaffected.

The cats had no idea that there was anything going on at all

because they were safe in the adoption centre.

So they remained completely stress-free.

7.00pm, Llandudno.

The Holyhead Coastguard have received a 999 call

and the inshore lifeboat has been launched.

The weather has taken a turn for the worse,

and two young men in kayaks are in danger.

The two have been kayaking in Penrhyn Bay

but they're now out of their boats and drifting in the offshore current out to sea.

Waves are reaching four foot out of the bay.

As soon as we came round the corner, we spotted two persons in the water.

They head towards a man treading water next to an upturned kayak.

But he waves them on.

The second man in the water is clinging desperately to another kayak.

They've been in the water for 30 minutes.

He was just really clinging on.

He was struggling to hold on.

He'd been in the water for a long period of time.

We're at the casualties now. We've got visuals on three people now.

We're lifting them out of the water.

OK, mate.

With one casualty safe,

they head back to the first man, Chad,

and pull him aboard.

Chad seems OK at first, but he's been through quite an ordeal.

The friend he'd been teaching to kayak was capsized by a large wave

and unable to free himself.

The thing with capsizing, as scary as it can be,

you have to let yourself fall out of the boat

which involves lying upside-down and letting your legs fall out.

It's the only safe way to do so.

His first reaction was to try and get his head up above the water.

By doing so, his legs were still caught up in the kayak.

He was on his back, trying to get his head up over the water.

The waves kept coming over his head, so he was gasping for air.

It was an attempt to save his friend that ended up with both men in danger in the water.

He had hold of my boat. He was panicking by this point

which was making mine quite unstable.

Next came what was a mistake on my behalf, I think.

Chad jumped out of his own kayak into the sea.

But his plan to pull both kayaks together into a make-shift raft didn't work.

As soon as I jumped out, grabbed his, turned around,

I couldn't see him any more. He'd drifted really far, really quickly.

Clinging to Chad's abandoned kayak,

his friend is taken by strong currents into deeper and colder waters.

Thankfully, Chad's parents had witnessed it all.

His mum raised the alarm as Dad paddled out to reach the stricken friend.

I got him on the front of the canoe,

on a rope, and I was starting to row him back in.

Then the coastguard appeared.

I heard the engine of the lifeboat coming round

which is one of the nicest noises I've heard in a long time!

As soon as the boat came to me, I knew I was OK for a bit longer.

He's out of the water, but still in danger of hypothermia.

Chad is feeling the effects of the cold sea.

The adrenaline had taken over everything and the panic and the worry of the situation.

As soon as I was pulled into the boat, the cold really hit me.

'They'd been in the water for up to half an hour.'

They were starting to get into the hypothermia stages.

One of the lads, after two or three minutes, started really shaking.

'He didn't really talk much.'

Are you all right?

And when they reached the shore, Chad can barely stand.

'I stood up and my legs just seized.

'I realised I'd gone very, very cold very quickly.'

I couldn't move. They'd completely seized up.

He's shivering a hell of a lot.

'As we got to the beach, he'd become so cold and shaking'

he couldn't walk, couldn't move.

He managed to stand himself up at which point I decided to pick him up and carry him onto the beach.

He was then taken off in an ambulance and he was checked over.

I think he had mild hypothermia.

He and his friend made a full recovery.

He hasn't been put off kayaking,

but he does have a new respect for the sea.

To see how powerful the current is off-shore,

and how fast it dragged him,

it's given me a new-found respect for the dangers out there.

It was definitely a lesson.

Just taken Jack away from -

well, you start your shift in how long?

About 20 minutes. So we've got a chance to chat beforehand.

And he's able to answer the age-old argument, certainly between me and my wife,

about whether you should park a car in gear or not. Tell us about this call.

As long as you keep your handbrake on, we're happy.

I got a 999 call from quite a distressed husband.

His wife had called him up and said, "My car's gone missing."

She'd gone to her son's house to do some washing up and do his washing and so on... As they do with sons!

Absolutely. And she's gone outside after ten minutes and her car's not on the drive any more.

So she called her husband and he called us and said, "My wife's car has been stolen."

Because it's in the last ten minutes, during that sort of time period,

we've got a really good chance of catching whoever's taken it.

We've got a lot of units in the area, sent up the number plates, all the information systems

to find out where it is.

A load of cars started the area search. They've all got the number plate and car description.

Couldn't find it at all. Had a big net on it. Couldn't find it.

So one of the officers said he'd go to see the female whose car it is and take a statement and do the process.

As he's on the way up to where she was, he passed a car a bit further down the road

and he checked the number plate and it was the same.

And she'd basically left the handbrake off and it had gently rolled down the road about 500 yards

and come to a stop without hitting anything. It could have wrecked anything along the way! Yes.

It re-parked itself. Yes, just down the road. Fancied a better parking space to where it was!

So the general idea is, if you leave your car in gear when you switch off,

like put the handbrake on, in case the handbrake fails as well,

leave the car in gear and it's never going to roll away. That's all I've ever said.

That's right, isn't it? Absolutely. I don't want to get between you and your wife! But yes!

Fair enough. Thanks very much, Jack!

Five-four-papa-one in attendance. Five-four-papa-one. Over.

Saturday night, and Southampton's Green Watch are on their way to help a young woman

whose night out with friends has taken an unexpected turn.

Incident commander Gav Hackney is immediately brought up to speed

by one of the paramedic team.

We want to get her out with a spinal board, so if you guys could take the roof off.

What damage is there to the sides?

Front-seat passenger Amber has taken the brunt of the impact,

the other car smashing into her car door.

I'll show you what we've got, mate, if you run in a cordon. Yeah. Happy with that?

One female, C-spine injuries.

Roof off. Take her out on a board.

'Side impacts can be very bad, especially at high speed.'

At the front you've got the engine to protect you and the bonnet,

whereas side doors, you only have the doors.

They can cause a lot of damage and create a lot of problems

for extricating the casualty.

Amber's three friends have walked away unscathed

but she is unable to move, due to severe neck pain.

We're concerned about her C-spine

and so as a precaution, the paramedic wants to take the roof off

and take her out on a board.

The fire crew act quickly as they prepare to cut away the roof

so Amber can be freed without exacerbating any of her injuries.

Working round the car, now. Going through the processes that we have to go through.

Removing the glass, removing the trims.

Cutting all the bits we need to before we can remove the roof.

Make sure everyone's got goggles down, dust masks.

Now the windscreen is split in two,

the crew can concentrate on cutting the car's pillars.

Amber is quite distressed. Obviously it's a stressing situation to be in.

They'd all been out and had a good evening

and had been having fun.

And then for something like that to happen on the way home,

can cause quite a lot of distress.

Especially when all your friends are out of the vehicle and you're trapped in there

with possible injuries.

The accident happened at a crossroads.

Amber's car was turning right, into the path of the other car.

In no time at all, the roof is lifted away

and the paramedics can prepare to remove Amber from the wreck.

Just liaise with the lead paramedic

and see how he wants to get her out.

A well-rehearsed operation swings into action.

Amber's spine must be kept straight at all times

so many hands are needed to slide her up onto the spinal board safely.

Ready, steady, slide.

Amber is now free to be taken to the ambulance

and then transferred to A&E,

where her injuries can be more thoroughly examined.

It's taken the fire and ambulance crews less than half an hour

to get her out.

It went very well from the time of us receiving the call to the lady being in the ambulance was 27 minutes.

She's going to go off to hospital now for some checks and treatment.

But she's looking relatively good.

We'll be finding out later how Amber is getting on.

Coming up on Real Rescues:

a helpful dad falls from a ladder

but needs convincing he now needs help himself.

If you want my advice, it's lay still and let me pop a collar on you.

And we'll take you to hospital on a board.

No!

Traffic control, MK style.

An accident at Milton Keynes' busiest junction

where 12 lanes meet.

I said stop! You stay there.

Just you. Just you.

The control room at East Midlands Ambulance Service.

A 999 call has come in to Emergency Medical Despatcher Suman L'Farnsworth.

Her priority is to find out exactly where the caller is.

But that's not so easy when the caller is a small child.

Suman is unsure quite what to make of this call.

'My first initial reaction

'was "Oh, he's probably doing a test call to the 999 service."

Cos a lot of children do ring in and say, "The teacher taught us how to make an emergency call at school."

So I thought he was ringing to say, "Mummy, I've done this call."

And Mummy would come on the line and say, "Thank you for listening to him. It's a test call."

But I didn't hear Mum at all in the background.

So I was convinced it was a very genuine call.

He was very quiet, and yet very calm.

Not hysterical at all.

So I had to really put my headset really close to my ear

to make sure I didn't miss anything.

At the other end of the phone, a little boy is doing exactly as he's been taught

when his mother falls ill.

He's the only one in the house who can give Suman the information she needs.

That was really funny to me

but obviously I didn't want to laugh over the phone so he could hear me.

I just put down "unknown age" for that one.

With the ambulance en-route, Suman wants to try and narrow down what might be wrong

with Tristan's mum.

The answers to the questions were amazing.

He was listening to everything I was saying.

He was doing what I was telling him to do.

I was trying to picture the scene. I wanted to put my arm through the telephone

and give him a hug and say, "It's going to be all right. I'm here to help you."

And give him all that reassurance so he doesn't put the phone down on me.

But just when Suman thinks the situation is under control,

there's another surprise.

Back at the house, baby sister is now settled.

The call handler Suman knows Tristan's responsibilities are not over yet.

Seven minutes after making the call, help has arrived. Tristan is ready at the door.

The paramedics who arrive are aware of Tristan's mum's condition,

which is similar to epilepsy and causes unconsciousness.

Suman is free to move on to the next call

but she won't forget this one in a hurry.

He knew what he was doing.

He knew that he was in charge

and he made sure that he got that help for his mum.

I was so proud of him. Absolutely. So proud of him.

Quite often, you'll hear examples of people who've gone to help others in difficulty

and got into trouble themselves.

Rob, you have experience of this yourself.

Yes, this lady phoned up once and reported her son missing.

He'd go for walks in the evening to relax and he hadn't come back.

And there'd been a lot of flooding. It was when there were lots of floods.

His father had gone out to look for him and had heard a cry for help

so he phoned his wife to say, "I think I've found him."

While he tried to help him, he got stranded in the river as well,

so they were both... So two people stranded. Yes. In the river.

Luckily he'd phoned his wife who phoned us and we got fire brigade, ambulance, helicopter to locate them.

And the fire brigade did a river rescue to save them both.

You hear this quite a lot.

People, for example, going into the sea to help someone, and getting into difficulty as well.

People going out onto the ice to help someone.

So what's the advice? What's best advice?

If you know you can help them safely, I think you should try,

but if not, leave it to the professionals. They're never far away.

Ring 999. We aim to get with you within a few minutes, as quick as we can.

Don't put yourself in danger, that's my advice. Thank you very much. No worries.

Mid-morning in Southampton.

Emergency care practitioner Andy Rudge has just received an emergency call-out.

There's not much information to go on.

We're now off to a gentleman that's fallen off a ladder.

It just says "long fall".

We don't know what caused the fall.

Did something happen? Did he feel unwell? Chest pains? Headache?

Or did he just slip off one of the rungs?

Turning into the drive, Andy is looking out for any clues

as to what kind of accident this is.

Hello. Hello.

Is he inside or outside?

Lisa is the owner of the bungalow.

It's her father who has fallen from the ladder.

Hello. My name's Andy. I'm a paramedic.

I'm all right. You're talking. That's a good sign.

Tell me the story of what happened.

I had the ladder up. I was going to put another one up and tie it

and it slipped away and the whole lot came down.

I landed up against that and down here.

How many rungs were you up?

I was up the full half ladder.

Then up about four on the other one.

About ten foot. Something like that.

Any pain anywhere? Not now, no.

Not now? I'm ready to get up.

I'd rather you didn't at the moment.

Any pins or needles in your arms or legs? No. Fine.

And you remember everything? Yeah.

Did you slip off the... I'm going to hold your head while we talk

Did you slip off the ladder or did you feel unwell?

No, I was all right. I've only been doing it for about 60 years!

He was trying to fit an air vent.

He seemed in good spirits, but ten feet is quite a fall.

This is where you've landed. He hasn't moved anywhere?

No, she wouldn't let me!

She's done the right thing.

The man is a reluctant patient.

Andy runs through some checks.

Those things are always bloody cold.

Right. I can't see any obvious injury.

You're chatty, you're not complaining of any pain.

However, you've had a significant fall.

Even if you were 20 years old...

I'm older than that. Don't you worry.

So what have you learnt, then, about falling?

Nothing!

If you want my advice, my advice is lay still, let me pop a collar on you

and we'll take you to hospital on a board.

No!

This patient is going to take some convincing!

Your daughter will agree. If you think about it, we're right.

Otherwise she panics. Well. She does!

Just see what you've let me in for, Lisa.

Obviously, I'm not here to start a fight! No.

Already?

These aren't designed for comfort, I assure you.

That's the most uncomfortable thing in the world to have round your neck.

Eventually, he accepts his fate.

An ambulance crew has arrived.

They back up Andy when the patient tries once more to get out of going to hospital.

What would you prefer? Not to go or to be paralysed?

Doesn't matter how you feel. You can't see injuries that are internal.

I'll get the board. Excellent.

We need to be safe, right? OK, mate. You're doing your job.

With a bit of team-work, he's soon scooped up.

He's landed against the fence, so he's come off, bounced off the fence

and hit the ground. Pinballed!

Yeah, the only discomfort now is the collar!

I'll give you something in the back.

Don't worry about it. I'll see you when I get there.

Lisa's dad is still a bit fed up about being sent to hospital.

But the ambulance crew know they've done the right thing.

If we were to move him and there was anything wrong,

how would we feel? How would he live the rest of his life?

If they do find something, then he's in the right place and we've treated him the right way.

Right. Thank you very much. No worries. Take care.

Thank you.

Straight off, Andy's on another call-out.

He's already wondering what he'll be dealing with.

It's a 76-year-old female who's unresponsive.

Could be a cardiac event, something with the heart.

Could even be she's having a sleep!

And those calls will keep on coming in until Andy finishes his shift 12 hours later.

It's rush hour in the middle of Milton Keynes.

One-zero-cinema-republic. Informed of a decision Grafton Gate.

Show us making to that, please.

PCs Matt Walters and Dan Smith are en-route to a collision

at the biggest junction in town.

Two vehicles have had a collision.

Possible injury. As you can see, there's a vehicle blocking the road.

You're clear, left, mate. Clear left.

Hello?

12 lanes meet here, so any accident causes instant chaos.

Matt needs to find out what's happened, and quickly.

I'll just see if there's anyone injured, first.

Is everyone OK?

Yeah. Who's the driver of this one?

You? And who's the driver of this one?

What happened? You were going straight on.

And you've turned in front of him. OK.

You're meant to give way to the traffic coming towards you. All right. Never mind.

Given the state of the two cars, it's lucky there aren't any more serious injuries.

Hello. Is this chap likely to go to hospital? No, no. He's not.

Shall we just clear the road, then? Get their details and get going.

But it's not quite that straightforward.

ENGINE SPLUTTERS

It's not looking good!

It's not going to work, is it?

Car won't start, so we'll have to get immediate recovery for it.

Won't start, Dan.

At least the other car is in better shape.

I'm just going to try and move the car.

Well, it is on one side.

It's rear-wheel drive, as well, isn't it?

Neither car is going anywhere, so PC Walters needs to organise recovery as quick as possible.

We're going to get the cars recovered, OK? This is a busy junction. Someone will get run over.

But the BMW driver wants to bring in his own recovery.

It's going to need lifting, though, isn't it? The back wheel's off.

He's got the winch.

He's got a winch.

Matt isn't confident it'll be up to the job.

They've actually got recovery coming out for themselves.

However, I'm not sure what kind of recovery truck is going to arrive.

so it may be that we still have to try and recover both vehicles ourselves.

Just wait and see. I've seen some recovery vehicles before!

It turns out to be their mate's car!

So especially with the wheel that's fallen off the back,

we'll wait and see what happens.

They're about to find out, as both recovery trucks appear together.

How are we going to do it? Just close the whole lot? It's going to be tricky, isn't it?

Having now seen the truck, Matt is convinced this isn't going to work.

He's going to try and drag that? It's got minus one wheel!

I can't see how they'll do it.

Impossible. Impossible. Yeah?

Rear wheel's missing! OK.

So you'll have to go to CMG and collect the car from there.

OK? Fine. Yeah.

Now it's just the small matter of stopping 12 lanes of traffic!

I said stop!

Right. You stay there.

Whilst Dan tries to convince the other driver his car has to be recovered by this truck.

He's taking your car. No, he's taking mine. No, he's not.

Why? He is.

INDISTINCT

The BMW driver isn't happy.

He's worrying about the costs of storing his car.

INDISTINCT

He can collect today?

We have to think of the public now.

He's getting nowhere with PC Smith.

But these guys won't give up!

Right, listen, OK?

Come and sit down. It's not going to happen because your wheel's missing.

So they're going to recover it. They're going to recover it.

It'll be down to your insurance company. Let me finish! Let me finish.

It's going to be recovered. We're recovering it. Are you going to listen me or walk away?

OK.

The man isn't happy, but the police are not easily swayed.

It's on with traffic control, and with 12 lanes to deal with,

nothing but the clearest instructions will do.

Just you. Just you. Just you.

Watch your back!

Oh, dear!

With the road finally clear and all arguments settled,

both cars can be recovered.

Milton Keynes' busiest junction can get moving again!

Monday morning rush hour on one of the major motorways along the south coast.

It's a motorcyclist that's apparently still in the outside lane, third lane.

Emergency care practitioner David Walton

is on patrol closest to the accident.

On the floor, lying on his back.

Motorbike.

Smashed up. Let's get out there and have a little look.

The motorbike appears to have collided with the central reservation

and then hit the car travelling ahead.

Your bike's just there. Did you come off the bike or roll with the bike, or what?

You stayed with the bike. OK.

What made you come off the bike?

INDISTINCT

Can this come off?

It's not the easiest of places to have a conversation.

Have you got any pains anywhere?

MUFFLED ANSWER

Sorry?

MUFFLED/INDISTINCT

I can't hear you. Sorry.

Both wrists hurt. Both wrists hurt? Yeah.

No pains in your stomach? No.

Chest? No. Legs?

I'll have a quick look at you, all right?

David gives the man a full head-to-toe check.

Deep breath. No pain? No.

No pain? No.

Any pain? No.

No pain? No.

Shoulder. No. Elbow. No.

Bend.

Lift up. Good.

Make a fist. Is it still your wrists that's hurting?

Yes. Both?

INDISTINCT

The only real problems seem to be painful wrists and something a bit more urgent!

Any pain?

You need a wee? Don't have a wee!

With this sort of impact, paramedics are trained to treat for the worst

before they know otherwise.

David needs back-up to get the motorcyclist off the road.

Ambulance, over?

'Crew are on the way. They're showing four minutes.'

Understood. ETA four minutes.

He's lying on the floor. I don't want to move him. He's got no neck pain.

But I'd rather the ambulance get here and we can get him into the warm.

Understood. Thank you.

David can't do any spinal checks until he can remove the man's helmet.

I won't be able to take it off until my colleagues get here. All right?

You will hear them going past.

There they go.

That was my ambulance.

David briefs the ambulance crew.

Everything seems to be fine. I'm sure there's not a lot of injury,

but I haven't been able to check a lot.

Now they can get the biker off the cold, wet road as quickly and safely as possible.

But their patient is getting worried.

You're not that light?

But as they start to fit the scoop to lift the man up,

it's not his weight the crew are worried about.

We're not going to be able to do this.

With his helmet on, he's too tall.

We'll have to take the helmet off.

Helmets like this are designed to be a snug fit.

So getting them off flat on the floor whilst keeping the head absolutely still

is not an easy task.

David holds the man's chin

whilst paramedic Rosie Salt eases the helmet off.

Get his nose off. That's it.

At last their patient can make himself heard.

We'll do this as quickly as possible, all right?

Get you nice and warm in a minute, OK?

We'll try and keep your clothes off the back of your neck, OK, mate?

Some extra hands are needed for the next move.

Everybody ready?

One, two, three, roll.

One, two, three, roll.

Roll.

One, two, three, lower.

With the scoop board now fitted,

it's a three-person job to now get the man onto the stretcher.

In the ambulance, the biker is given another thorough checkover.

How about your knee? It's my right shoe.

My right shoe. You might have grazed it.

OK? I'm fine, thank you very much. That's great.

The motorcyclist will be heading off to hospital for a thorough check-up.

David's work is done here. He signs on with control

ready for the next job.

The motorcyclist was later x-rayed in hospital

and was found to have suffered a fractured wrist.

Car passenger Amber, who had to be cut out of a friend's car

after a city centre collision

suffered a cracked rib and severe internal bruising.

The owner of the Ford Focus was not at fault.

The driver of Amber's car was asked to attend a driver awareness course.

In Lincoln, life is back to normal for four-year-old Tristan and his mum, Clare.

Tristan dialled 999 after his mum started shaking

and losing consciousness.

Clare suffers from non-epileptic attack disorder.

The paramedics arrived to be greeted by Tristan

and then led to the front room.

The situation didn't faze him whatsoever.

He knew exactly what to do.

He kept me entertained while my colleague assessed Clare.

He was telling me all about his school and all about his little sister,

who he also looked after while Mum was having this episode.

Tristan's mum, Clare, did not go to hospital.

The ambulance crew stayed with her until the attack subsided.

She still can't believe he acted so promptly.

I told little man, I told Tristan that Mum wasn't feeling very well

and I was feeling sleepy, which is our key word for him.

The next thing I know he's sat next to me, arms round me,

saying, "Give you a hug better, Mummy."

And that is the last thing I remember.

As much as we drilled it into him, I never thought that he'd actually get the phone and dial the number.

As for Tristan, he's not sure what all the fuss is about!

'Mummy had a shiver, and I phoned 999.'

Then the ambulances comed

then Mumma was better.

I think something I've realised during the course of this programme

is the extraordinary amount of danger that our emergency services put themselves in

on behalf of us and our property.

Remember, it's only recently that 19 fire-fighters lost their lives in Arizona

fighting a forest fire.

It's worth thinking about, isn't it?

That's it for today's Real Rescues.

See you next time.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd