Episode 8 Real Rescues

Today, they can feel it and smell it, but they can't find it -

the thousand degree blaze that firefighters just can't pin down.

Be aware, the fire is well into that roof.

If you can attack from the hatch, do it, but don't take any risks.

A young man has collapsed in a shop and chocolate is the best medicine to keep him from a coma.

-Can you remember why you were on the floor?

-No.

And the world's a terrifying place when you're young, in pain and surrounded by strangers.

-Did you get hit by a car? Do you remember?

-I don't remember anything.

-Am I going to die?

-No, you're not going to die. Callum...

Hello and welcome to Real Rescues. If someone's hurt or sick and dials 999,

their call comes through to an ambulance control room like this.

They dispatch ambulances and stay on the line treating patients

until that help arrives.

-Just such a situation happened to Mike Kenny. Are you on the line?

-No. I've finished.

-Jolly good.

You recently looked after a couple of young ladies who got into difficulty in the middle of nowhere.

They were in remote woods and they were having a horse-ride.

One of the horses bolted, throwing its rider.

She had quite serious injuries,

so I needed to stay on the line to keep the patient calm and still.

-So who was calling? Her friend?

-Her friend was calling.

She had hold of both horses and the telephone

whilst trying to shade her friend who lay on the floor.

-So you were keeping her calm, trying to help her out...

-And keeping her still.

Also trying to get a better location. They didn't really know where they were.

They knew they were in a wood, marking out a route...

-How long did you keep that up for?

-Quite a while.

-It felt like longer than it was.

-Yeah.

-To me and to them.

In fact, you managed to get the helicopter to stop by saying, "Tell me when it's overhead,"

then you telling the ambulance people here...

-Isn't that amazing how it works?

-Yeah.

-Smashing. Thank you.

-Cheers.

We're going to start as well today with the fire and rescue service.

They're called to a fire threatening to destroy two houses,

but how do you fight a fire when you can't see it?

The flames are racing through hidden spaces and the firefighters have no idea where they'll flare up next.

It's early evening and the crew of White Watch are on a 999 call

to a house fire in a busy residential area.

-There's smoke everywhere.

-OK.

Six fire engines from two stations are heading there.

-Where is it...? Stop!

-There's smoke in there.

-Yeah, loads, yeah.

Thankfully, everyone is out of the house, but this is a semi.

The fire could spread and destroy two homes.

It's in the roof space, right? It's in the roof space. I want ALP, light pumps four.

Go!

Watch manager Shaun Cheeseman gets his team straight into the action.

Get yourselves in there. Go and give it a quick look. Don't take any risks.

-Is that front door open?

-It should be.

-Thank you.

-Are you ready?

-Come on, boys. Let's get going.

Firefighters Alex and Martin are sent in to check where in the roof the fire is.

Where's my BA crew?

In the meantime, Sue and Gavin are putting on their breathing apparatus, preparing to go in too.

You two are going to get a hose reel up and see if you can lend any assistance.

I need you to let me know what's going on as soon as you can.

Sue and Gavin will join the other team in trying to find and tackle the seat of the fire.

Shaun, in the meantime, has to make sure everyone is safe outside as well.

Come this side out of the smoke.

The fire is spreading through the roof space, but if they tackle it fast enough,

there is still a chance they could save this house.

Inside, Sue and Gavin are working in complete darkness.

They've made their way up to the back bedroom on the second floor.

We managed to open the door and get through.

The smoke was right down to the floor.

We couldn't see anything. We kept feeling around the room, realising we were in another loft space.

We were just trying to feel walls to find out where the heat was coming from,

but all the walls we were feeling seemed to be quite hot to touch.

The visibility was so poor in there, we still couldn't see anything.

The fire's been burning for more than half an hour. Shaun's already radioed for reinforcements.

Four more crews, as well as the aerial ladder platform, are on their way.

If it's got into the roof big-time, we'll lose this.

Opening the door has created ventilation and improved the visibility inside.

As the smoke clears, they see the whole room is on fire.

There were flames up to the ceiling and on the sides of the walls.

Clothes and toys on the floor were catching alight as well.

The fire has travelled through the adjoining loft spaces and into the house next door.

This is now a much bigger incident. Two houses are on fire.

It's vital they tackle the blaze from both sides.

You two, get yourselves started up.

Take in a section of this ladder with you. Go into that premises.

Take a hose reel up to the top, look in the loft hatch.

Be aware, the fire is well into that roof. If you can attack from the hatch, do it, but don't take risks.

More firefighters arrive. There's no time to waste.

Come on, you two, let's go! Quick as you can!

The second house is divided into flats and the loft space turned into bedrooms.

This caused us all sorts of problems, lots of tiny staircases and doors and rooms

and a very confined space with hatches into hidden roof voids

and no loft hatches into the ceiling voids, so it became a very difficult and arduous job for us.

They're tackling two different fires in each house.

The homes look the same from the outside, but inside, the layouts are totally different.

It means the flames can move through these hidden areas or roof spaces

out of sight of the firefighters inside.

Shaun has to keep sending his teams in in relays,

keeping track of who is where on the whiteboard outside.

-Do they need assistance? Shall I put two more BA in with them?

-Red Team 3, Red Control. Over.

Quick as you can, back up that crew up there. I'll have you two as stand-by here.

The teams working with breathing apparatus only have oxygen for 40 minutes.

Sue and Gavin have had to come out.

At that point, we'd already been working quite arduously anyway,

trying to pull our hose up two flights of stairs

and our air started to run out on our BA cylinders,

so at that point, we had to leave the room and get out of the building.

Another team takes over inside.

Two BA, give them a hand with the main jet. We've got a fire in the back room.

They're getting the fire under control in the left-hand house, but these are unpredictable conditions.

It looked like the fire was out, but we noticed that smoke was travelling out of different parts of the roof

and we could actually see an orange flame under some of the tiles.

The fire has travelled to another inaccessible area of the roof space where it's burning fiercely.

The fire is raging through the roof. They need more back-up and more crews to save both the homes.

Luckily, no-one was injured in that incident,

but some of the worst and most common injuries operators here have to deal with are burns

and Seb will show me a clever piece of kit.

It's difficult to tell over the phone how bad a burn is, but something on your computer helps.

-We've got the burn tool here.

-There it is.

Each part of the body is represented by a score of nine which is a percentage.

When we're told which areas are burnt, we simply add up the areas.

So, for example, somebody phones in, says, "I've got burns on my chest and leg."

-So you quickly add those scores?

-That's correct.

If we know the burn covers the whole of the abdomen and the front of the legs, we add the scores up.

-If the area equates to being larger than 18%...

-Which it does because 18% is just on the front anyway.

So if it's larger than 18%...?

-That would be a large burn and something we'd have to react to in an immediate response.

-Why is that?

The risk of infection and the risk of going into shock is incredibly high

when they lose that amount of skin area,

so it's important we arrive as quick as we can.

-What's the most common thing? Children spilling cups of tea?

-Yeah.

A lot of small children reach up, pull a cup of tea over themselves

and they're burnt from over their face down the front of their body.

-And that adds up to over 18%?

-Of course. An immediate response.

At home, if we've burnt ourselves, what should we do? I thought it was cold water.

No, we've been told lukewarm water needs to flow over the wound for ten minutes.

-So poured over or under a tap?

-It needs to be lukewarm, not cold.

-It's less of a shock to the body, cooling down...

-Then get you guys to come and deal with it?

-That's correct.

-Brilliant. Thanks very much for showing me that. Nick?

You always learn something new on this programme.

Now a remarkable story of a young man who went from complete collapse to total recovery in under an hour.

Medics Kevin Gall and Stuart Collins are responding to an emergency call from a supermarket.

We're on our way to a job in a Co-op store.

We don't have any further details at this time,

so it's something we'll assess when we arrive.

When they get there, the reason for the urgent concern becomes clear.

A teenager has collapsed without warning.

-A young lad, a customer, it looks like he's had a fit and fallen down.

-OK.

18-year-old Lewis is sitting on the floor and looks very groggy.

His dad has just arrived and told Kevin that Lewis suffers from diabetes.

-They'd been doing some building work together.

-How are you feeling now?

Can you remember coming into the store?

Can you remember coming into the store?

What happened after that?

Sorry?

Have you taken your normal amount this morning?

Have you eaten?

My colleague's going to do your blood sugars, just so we can test them.

The suspicion is that Lewis has had a hypoglycaemic attack.

A known risk for diabetics, it's where the blood sugar levels fall dangerously low

and the brain starts to shut down.

Can you remember why you were on the floor?

He may be conscious, but Lewis appears confused and unresponsive.

-2.3. I'm guessing that's quite low for you, isn't it?

-Yeah.

A reading of 2.3 is way too low for his blood sugar level. It needs to be at least double that.

Lewis, we'll try and get you a chair to sit on and get you something sugary to eat.

-That's what he came to get. He came to get a Coke.

-It just came on a bit too quick.

Kevin quickly needs to raise Lewis's blood sugar level

to avoid any risk of him slipping into unconsciousness.

Lewis had been working in the heat when he first got the warning signs.

He said to me 20 minutes ago, "I'm feeling hyper. Can we go and get a drink?"

We came straight round here. He said, "I'll go and get it." He went in there and he collapsed.

Kevin needs to give Lewis a sweet gel.

It's the quickest way to get some sugar into his system.

Take it in that hand. And slowly, like with a tube of toothpaste, just squeeze it out.

Even this simple task is proving difficult.

Open your mouth for me. There we are.

-Mix that around in your mouth.

-Does he want a Coke or anything like that?

We need to see him eat something with carbohydrates like bread. A sandwich would be very good.

The gel is having an instant effect and Lewis is already looking more alert.

-Not too fast.

-He's wolfing that down.

-Just take your time, Lewis.

But they have to be careful. Too much too soon would make him feel unwell.

I've got some sarnies here for you, Lewis.

We'll give that a little while and re-test his sugar levels in another ten minutes.

In the Co-op, the reading was 2.3, but they're usually between 4 and 7.

If we can get him back to that, that's the level we'd be happy with.

Ten minutes have passed and Lewis is continuing to improve, so it's time to test again.

What do you reckon? Fairly low.

2.8.

The reading is still dangerously low.

Maybe it's just on its way back up. We'll give it another five minutes.

Being told to eat sandwiches and fizzy drinks might be most people's preferred medicine,

but it's essential for Lewis. It will raise his blood sugar level past the 4 mark

and provide enough glucose for his brain to work normally.

-Shall we try again, Lewis?

-There we go, a little scratch.

-4.8.

-4.8.

-Ideal.

You're quite happy this is Lewis's normal behaviour?

It's a dramatic turnaround in his condition.

Half an hour ago, he was lying on a shop floor. Now he'll be well enough to walk out with his dad.

-When was the last time that happened?

-Last year.

-Last year.

It must be fairly well controlled then.

Take it easy for the rest of the afternoon. If any problems develop, seek help straight away.

To be on the safe side, Lewis will skip the rest of the day's work with his dad

to put his feet up at home.

-OK, thanks very much.

-You're welcome.

-OK, cheers.

-Bye now. Take it easy, Lewis.

-Cheers. Bye.

Yeah, fascinating stuff, isn't it?

You think about the fact that people can be so ill so quickly

and it's quite panic-striking for people having to deal with it...

The reason I mention this, not least because of the film...

-We talked earlier about staying on the line to look after people who call in. Is it OK to talk?

-Yeah.

Dealing with people who phone up who are in a panic, I've heard there's a technique. What did we call it?

-You told me earlier.

-Repetitive persistence.

-What does that mean?

When you've got people who are very distressed on the phone,

you give them a command and a reason

to get them to calm down and you repeat it,

so like when you get calls for, particularly, babies fitting

and mums going slightly mad on the phone,

you always say, "You need to calm down so we can help your baby," over and over until they listen to you.

-You say, "Calm down, so I can help your baby, give me your address, so I can send an ambulance"?

-Yeah.

-Is that a command and a...?

-Yeah, and saying it over and over, so they listen, it registers and they do it.

You're very quietly spoken. Do you have to raise your voice or is it a matter of being very decisive?

You don't raise your voice. You have to go quite firm, so they listen to you.

-I'm not very soft-spoken when people are panicking.

-No. Fascinating stuff. Thank you very much.

-Thank you.

Shocked and scared, Callum has been hit by a car

and is desperate to see the one person he believes can make him better.

-I want my mum.

-I know you do. They're going to go and get your mum. Yeah?

-Am I going to die?

-No, you're not.

And Green Watch from St Mary's Station have been sent out to a woman who's trapped in a lift,

but this job doesn't sound like it's going to be routine.

Sorry?

Earlier, we saw fire crews tackling a blaze that's threatening to destroy two houses.

Firefighters are working in relays in searing temperatures.

It's a complex operation because the flames are spreading through the roof spaces,

completely out of sight of the firefighters.

Flames are now clearly visible in the roofs of both houses.

The fire is racing through hidden and inaccessible roof spaces.

They've fought it for over an hour,

but no sooner do they put it out in one place, then it springs up in another.

I need you two to go and get them replenished and get cylinders on straight away.

Martin and Alex have just come out of the first house after putting out the fire in the back bedroom.

You can't get where you want to get as the floor's not safe.

The fire is next door, so we can only contain what we can contain in our area.

We're protecting one property whilst another team went into the next one.

As the breathing apparatus crews fight the fire from inside the building,

they also need to douse the flames with water from the aerial platform,

but that will have to wait as it could bring the roof in on firefighters inside.

The temperature within the house is reaching 1,000 degrees.

The rooms were hot. You could feel that there was fire somewhere,

but you couldn't trace where it was. None of the rooms were on fire.

The fire is all around them, but finding it is not straightforward.

They can feel the heat from it, they can smell it, but they just can't see it.

I saw my crews up in one of the loft converted areas and they were looking out the Velux window,

saying they'd knocked the fire down.

However, above their heads, six to eight inches above their heads,

it was glowing orange under the tiles.

You've got to attack it from that point you can see there cos you can't get in.

-That bit that's flickering up, you can't get to it?

-No.

Inside the loft, plasterboard has been used to create false ceilings and walls.

Plasterboard has a fire-protective layer,

so it will withhold flames for a period of time.

Behind the plasterboard, the roof structure, the timbers are burning

and from inside the building, you can't see it because it's behind a protective fire barrier.

So now they've worked out where the fire is, but they still have to get at it.

We've got a roof space which has got different levels within the building

and a lot of them are sealed off with no access to them.

When the fire gets in there, we've got to break ceilings down to get into the fire.

The firefighters are beginning to get the upper hand.

-All right, listen up.

-SHRILL WHISTLING

We've successfully knocked it down back and front and inside.

What we need to do now is march on and put it out, so we need to get people in that roof space.

-I want two BA to do that now.

-OK.

By now, more than 40 firefighters have been here for nearly three hours

and they are containing the fire to the roof spaces and top floors of both houses.

There's lots of different ceilings at different angles all over the place and it's strenuous work.

We just pile blokes in and get that down until we can knock off the breathing apparatus and go in there.

And we'll start stripping the tiles off on the outside, so we can get to it easier from there.

The roofs of both houses are now being taken apart

to make sure that every flame is extinguished.

The damage is extensive. It shows the lengths the fire crews have had to go to

to stop it tearing through both homes.

By pulling down the ceilings and knocking through the plasterboard

the fire crews reached the flames and stopped them in their tracks.

Going by the extent of the fire in the roof spaces

and the amount of breathing apparatus and crews we put in there,

it proved its worth because we stopped it within the roof, so it was very good work by the lads.

In that film, we saw the firefighters using a particular kind of board.

Dave is here to explain it to me. They were using it and you use it a lot.

This particular one we've got here has had a lot of use.

You write on it really important information which saves lives.

-What do you do?

-Each breathing apparatus set has got a tally.

That's going to be Nick's pretend one - his name and how much air he's got.

You put that in the slot prior to them going into the job.

-They always work in pairs.

-So they both go there.

-Yeah.

Before you go in, you look at the time. The time is three minutes past two.

-So you just put in the time...

-On there.

OK. And how much air have they got in there?

-How long will it last them?

-About 35 minutes.

-Which is not long if you're in a firefighting situation.

-Exactly.

So you put those in and I've pre-prepared some of this.

Then you say where they're going, the location of the team.

-That's a "left-hand..."

-So you know what part of the building is being searched by them.

-"..search."

-And then...

-"First floor."

And it helps the incident commander know which part of the building is being searched.

-That's allegedly me today.

-Yes.

-Then the time of the whistle - that's when they need to come out.

-Yes.

You look at the timing, that's 14.03.

-You move this to that position.

-Yeah.

-Then you look 200...

-200 bars, that's how much air he's got.

-Yes. That would be 14.38.

-It tells me 14, then you count 35, 36, 37, 38.

14.38. 190...

-The point being that once you've got this, you know when they need to come out.

-Yes.

When the time goes to 14.36, what do you do?

You always have someone with the board and he'll be monitoring the time.

As it gets close to that, they'll be in radio contact.

They'll be ensuring the team is coming out of the building.

If they're not coming out of the building and he loses radio contact, they will send in an emergency team.

It looks like a simple piece of kit, but this saves lives on a daily basis, doesn't it?

Controlling who is in a fire in a very dangerous situation is paramount

and by using this, you know how many teams are in, where they are and what time they'll come out.

-Thank you very much for showing me.

-No problem.

A knock to the head can lead to all kinds of strange symptoms and reactions.

In the next rescue, the ambulance crews and the police work together to try to calm an 11-year-old boy.

He's confused and frightened after being hit by a car.

Ambulance crew Alyssa Musselwhite and Hayley Thomson are responding to a 999 call

and it's the sort all crews dread.

A child has been knocked down as he stepped out from behind a bus.

They know he's taken a bang to the head and he could have been knocked out.

They arrive to find the boy sitting by the side of the road.

-He's there, Ally.

-Oh, bless him!

A helpful passer-by fills them in.

-It's quite a serious head injury. He's quite stressed.

-OK.

I'm not surprised, bless him!

Callum is very upset and disorientated.

-What happened, Callum?

-I can't remember.

-Did anybody see what happened?

-He came out on top of the car in front.

Callum has clearly suffered quite a knock.

A collision with a car travelling at 30mph can cause serious injuries.

-I want my mum, please.

-I know you do, poppet.

Callum, we'll get somebody to get your mum in a minute. We just need to make sure that you're all right.

Can you keep yourself nice and still for me?

-That's brilliant. How old are you?

-11.

-11? Wow! That's it, keep looking forward.

'When we first arrive, we're trying to assess what's happened and find out as many details as possible.'

It was obvious with Callum he'd had a hit on the head

cos he had a lump on his forehead,

so we need to know if he's been knocked out, if he's been thrown up on to the car and on to the floor.

He may have C-spine injuries or back injuries.

You've had a little bit of a bang on the head, so we need to check you over. Keep looking at Hayley.

-That's Hayley.

-Look straight at me.

-I'll feel down your neck. Tell me if you've got any pain.

Callum is still very anxious. Alyssa must check him for spinal injuries.

-Does it hurt anywhere, darling?

-No. It doesn't hurt anywhere.

-Only here.

-OK, on your face.

It's the injury to his face which is hurting him. The paramedics can't rule out more serious head injuries.

-Callum...

-What?

-Somebody said that you were knocked out, which means that...

-When was I knocked out?

-Did you get hit by a car? Do you remember that?

-No, I don't remember anything.

-You don't remember anything.

-We're going to need to pop you up to see the doctor.

-Am I going to die?

-No, you're not going to die.

-HE CRIES

-Callum, you're not going to die.

Loss of memory can be a sign of concussion.

Callum will need to go to hospital to be thoroughly checked out,

but first they have to calm the hysteria.

-How about we get the police to come here?

-No, take me home!

-No, Callum, they can go and get your mum and bring her here.

-OK.

-Yeah? Shall we do that?

-Mm-hm.

-But you need to do something for us. We want you to stay nice and still.

We're going to need to pop you up to the hospital. We'll wait for your mum.

If the police can get her. We need to do a few things.

-Am I going to die?

-No, you're not going to die.

You've just had a bit of a bang. We need to make sure everything is OK.

He can't remember his mum's phone number, but he knows the address.

A police officer is going to go and get her.

We're going to try and get hold of your mum to come down here. OK?

You stay with these ladies. They'll look after you.

Poppet, we need you to stay as still as you can.

PC Mike Batten is trying to get to the bottom of just what happened.

I spoke to the young lady, the car driver.

She was distressed as well because of what had happened

and quickly ascertained from her

and the bus driver that Callum had got off the bus, walked round the front of it,

had stepped out into the path of the car and given the driver no chance to react.

Callum had gone up on to the vehicle and he'd been carried a short distance,

then thrown forward as the car braked to a standstill.

He landed on the road quite heavily and sustained the injury to his head.

Meanwhile, Alyssa is doing her best to reassure Callum.

-Keep nice and still, Callum.

-I want my mum!

-I know you do.

That's why we've taken your address. They're going to go and get your mum.

-Am I going to die?

-No, you're not.

You've had a bang on the head and we need to get that checked out.

We need you to keep your head still. You've got a real wiggly head, Callum. Yeah?

Callum keeps repeating the same things over and over again. This could be another sign of concussion.

-How did I get here?

-We're not sure because nobody seems to know what happened.

Keep your head nice and still. Keep looking forward.

Callum was very repetitive. He kept saying, "Am I going to die?"

Asking for his mum, saying "Am I going to die" again.

He had had a nasty bang on the head. This could be related to the concussion, him being so repetitive.

When your brain's really shaken up, it can cause memory loss

and the repetitive behaviour that Callum was showing.

Also, he was ever so shocked. It's a very scary situation for anybody, but for a little 11-year-old...

He had no parents around him, nobody that he knew.

It was all very chaotic and scary for him.

-My head is killing me!

-I know. That's cos you've had a nasty bang on your head.

-How did I do it?

-We're not sure. No-one seems to have seen it.

-The police lady is finding out for us. Try and look straight ahead.

-HE STARTS TO CRY

This just keeps your neck straight.

They need to keep his neck still as they move him into the ambulance.

These are a bit uncomfortable, but they do a very special job.

-Ow!

-Sorry.

-No, take it off!

-Callum...

-Ow!

-Callum, calm down.

-You've got to keep it on, mate. I'm going to die.

-No.

-You're not.

We'll see how Callum gets along a little bit later, but before we get on to the next bit,

we don't normally give information away, but if you're upset by watching Callum being so upset,

I can tell you he's not going to die. He'll be fine.

A regular call-out for the fire crews is to rescue people trapped in lifts.

This emergency is in the early evening on a hot summer's day.

Green Watch from St Mary's Station have been sent out to a woman who's become trapped,

but this job doesn't sound like it will be routine.

A lady's panicking in the lift.

-Hello.

-Hi. It's a lady stuck in a lift.

The crew go straight to the room where they can access the lift machinery.

-Do you know where the key is?

-No.

-All right. Ah!

Just when it looks like they might have trouble opening the door,

Tim O'Donnell spots the holder for the emergency key up on the wall.

Ladder crew, if you want to come up with me, Paul and Tim...

Hi, Hilary.

The woman's trapped on the third floor, but when they get there,

Shaun is greeted by the surprising sight of Hilary looking straight back at him.

-The old-fashioned lift is good news as Shaun can reassure her through the window.

-All right, Hilary?

Hilary may be nervous, but he needs her to close the inner lift doors for her own safety.

Can you shut it and go to the back of the lift car, please?

Right.

Then stand back at the back of the lift car, Hilary.

-That one won't shut.

-It won't either.

-OK...

-They've shut off the electrical supply,

but the design of the lift is preventing them from opening the outer door and reaching Hilary.

-'Yeah, receiving. Over.'

-Adam, it's quite an unusual lift, this one.

It's a very small, one passenger lift.

The inner door's open.

We may have to raise if possible. Received, over?

They hope by winching the lift up level with the floor, the door's safety mechanism will release.

Are you all right, Hilary?

Yeah, I know.

Hilary is calmer now and is starting to see the funny side of her predicament.

-There's nothing up above. It feels like there's just a void, then it goes back to the brickwork.

-Sorry?

I think your daughter and her friends are having a laugh at your expense.

Hilary had been doing her daughter Katie a good turn when she got stuck.

We were moving flat and she came back to get the rest of my stuff while we were at our house

and she called me saying she was stuck in the lift, so we came back.

-Is she all right in there?

-She was a bit upset. She's a bit scared.

She rang me up crying, but it's quite funny.

Not much sympathy there then.

Thankfully for Hilary, Shaun and the crew are working as quickly as possible to get her out.

-Hilary, we'll try to start to raise the lift now.

-Thank you.

I'm not saying we'll get you out yet!

But you're moving now.

Right, pass me my torch, please.

Can you... Right, check the...

-Nearly.

-That's it released.

-Oh, lovely.

-Adam, you can rest there, please. Over.

-'Resting now, brake is on.'

-Lovely. Come on out.

-Thank you.

-Right... Is that all your shopping?

-No, she's moving house.

-Ah!

-I'm trying to help her move.

-I see.

The trouble is, I think the lift's out of use from now on.

-You may have possibly overloaded it.

-Well, it says "four people".

-Yeah, OK.

-Perhaps four dwarfs.

-I don't know, but the lift's out of use now.

-Sorry.

-That's all right.

Hilary is just glad to be free.

Well, you know, sense of humour, but I was a bit panicky, I have to say,

very panicky because I thought, "It's going to go down!"

-Are you relieved?

-Very relieved. I'm just sorry I held these guys up from saving people.

OK, thanks then. Bye-bye!

Hilary can get back to helping her daughter move,

though unfortunately, like Green Watch, they'll now have to use the stairs.

Earlier, we saw an ambulance crew trying to calm 11-year-old Callum

who was hit by a car after he stepped off a bus.

The crew need to examine him carefully in the ambulance, but his concussion is making that difficult.

-Please, I don't want to die!

-We're not going to let you die, Callum.

We'll pop you up to hospital, so they can check your head out. Just stay nice and still for me.

PC Mike Batten has been called to investigate how the accident happened,

but now he's helping trying to calm Callum.

He needs to reassure the youngster that everything is under control.

- The paramedics will look after you. - I'm going to die!

-Callum!

-Trust me. You're not going to die.

-Brave boy again.

-We'll put some tape across your head to keep your head still.

Mike has already spoken to the driver involved in the accident,

but he also needs Callum to tell him anything he remembers.

Do you remember what happened? No!

Did you get off the bus? I can't remember.

Am I going to die? You're not going to die.

If you were going to die, I wouldn't be talking to you. You'd have gone ages ago.

They're just making sure that your head and neck are all right and you don't wiggle about too much.

Stay nice and calm for me, listen to what these ladies say to you and they'll make sure you're all right.

Everyone is working hard to reassure the lad, so that they can continue with their treatment.

-This is too tight.

-The collar's a bit uncomfortable?

-Yeah.

It has to be quite tight because it has to keep your neck nice and straight for us.

You were being so brave. We want to keep a nice, brave boy like that.

'We shine a little light in a patient's eyes when we suspect a head injury.'

Not your mouth, your eyes.

'We shine the light in each of Callum's eyes.'

We're looking at the size of the pupils, if they're equal, so that one side is the same as the other,

or if one is not reacting as well to the light as we would want it to.

All these could be signs of a head injury or something more going on.

At last, there's one piece of good news for Callum.

-Callum, the police have gone round to your mum's address to pick her up.

-Excellent.

That's all right. Your mum's going to meet us there.

-Sounds like a good plan.

-She's going to think, "How brave is he!"

-That's right.

It's vital that Alyssa knows as much as she can about the details of the accident.

-Did he go up over the car?

-He went on to the top, then back on to the ground.

And he was knocked out, we heard.

Once inside, Alyssa can give the injured boy a thorough check-over.

-Do you hurt anywhere else at all?

-No.

I'm just going to feel your tummy and down your body. Tell me if you have any pain.

-Do you have any pain across your shoulders?

-No.

-How about down your arms?

-I can't remember what happened.

-You've just had a little bit of an argument with a car.

Mike has got to the bottom of what happened.

-The speed of the car is 30.

-30.

-He came on to the bonnet.

Then he came back down the front, bounced on the road surface and went forward.

'It's really helpful to know what's happened with the accident.

'We need to know the impact speed, the type of car that had hit him,

'whether it's a four-by-four or a normal car.'

If someone is going just 5mph, it's usually just a little tap or graze. It doesn't do too much damage.

If somebody is going 50mph, it's obviously a lot worse,

especially with a child.

They're a bit shorter than adults, so their major organs, their body can take the main impact.

We'll let you go down in the ambulance. We'll meet your mum in the reception area

and we'll probably come straight through and see you.

-Don't worry.

-Sounds good.

-Everything is fine. Just don't worry, OK?

The fact that the driver of the car was slightly within the speed limit, probably slower,

has prevented it being a much more serious crash.

Had she been going 35, 40, Callum could have sustained life-changing, if not fatal injuries.

They're just a few minutes away from the hospital where Callum's head will be scanned

to see if there's anything serious going on like bleeding.

He'll also be checked for any other injuries.

Here's Callum and mum Clare and we've been joined by a friend of the programme, Rob Isherwood,

who is a paramedic, of course.

-I asked you, "Do you remember this?" You didn't remember anything.

-No.

So what's it like watching yourself going through it all?

Um, it's... I just can't remember what happened.

Do you remember yourself being upset or panicked like that?

-No, I can't remember.

-And horrible for you to watch, I should imagine?

Absolutely, yeah. Really not good at all.

-You get the call saying Callum's been knocked over, the worst call you want to receive.

-It is, yeah.

Absolutely. Just your whole world sort of like... You think the worst.

-Yeah, absolutely.

-It's just horrible and you just want to get there

and the time sort of...

It just seems like it's taken so long to get to him or to, you know...

-But you're doing fine now. Are you all right now?

-Yeah, I'm fine.

-No headaches or anything else?

-No.

-Oh, good. Jolly good.

-Rob, talk to us about concussion because it's weird what it makes people do.

-It is, yeah.

Concussion is to do with a shaking of the brain.

The brain has been shaken inside your head,

so it causes some minor bleeding.

At first, it's just bruising, but that can develop into more serious things like a full-on bleed,

so we need to take it very seriously.

One of the first things you notice is someone's behaviour will change.

-You said that he was talking codswallop.

-He was, yeah.

He didn't know where he was, what had happened.

He didn't know what he was saying.

For people to know, if they have somebody who has concussion, they're looking for that not making sense?

Yeah, it's the confusion, agitation.

Someone who might normally be very placid will become very aggressive

and it's those changes that you need to be aware of.

You need to keep the person calm, so that you can tell if this is just anxiety about what's happened

or if it's to do with their head injury.

This could bump up at any stage, so keep an eye on anyone who's had a bump for 24 hours.

Lovely to see you looking so well. Louise?

Thanks, Nick. All the controllers here are busy at the moment.

You get a real sense of those calls coming in. They're dealing with them really calmly as they always do.

They're dealing with a teenage boy who's been knocked off his bike.

He's been taken to hospital. His family is with him.

A lady has sustained a lower limb injury after an accident on an escalator.

She is being treated too.

That's all for Real Rescues today. We'll see you soon. Bye-bye.

Subtitles by Subtext for Red Bee Media Ltd 2010

Email [email protected]