Episode 6 Real Rescues

Today, one of our most extraordinary real rescues, and all the drama is recorded.

'A trawler is on fire in a force-nine gale and snowstorm in the North Atlantic.'

'A ship-to-ship rescue in the most dangerous conditions is the one and only chance for the crew.'

Those are some of the most remarkable pictures you'll ever see.

Also, the baby that waits for no-one, born on a landing and delivered by dad after he dials 999.

WOMAN SCREAMS

Hello and welcome to Real Rescues.

This is the control room of the South Central Ambulance Service.

Call handlers here look after a population of four million people

across four counties.

At busy time, the staff here respond to one emergency call a minute

and it's actually particularly busy at the moment.

There are busier times and there are gentler times.

But they're not always responding to accidents that have just happened. It could be 24 hours ago.

-Kelly, are you all right to talk?

-I am.

-Jolly good.

-You've had an emergency this morning but from an accident that happened yesterday.

-That's right.

A female's fallen off a horse yesterday.

She's gone home, a bit achy and painy,

gone to her GP this morning,

her GP's assessed her and feels she needs an ambulance.

What sort of injury are we talking about?

Possible neck or back injury. High back.

But the decision here is not to send an ambulance, right?

No, I rang CSD desk who'd spoken with the doctor.

Between them, they've agreed that the Helimed would be a better approach.

To get a smoother ride because they're worried about the possible fracture. So even 24 hours later,

the person's managed to get themselves to the GP,

but not safe enough for them to go by ambulance to hospital, they're sending a Helimed.

We'll find out more throughout the programme.

That's fascinating. Now, it is the most dangerous job in Britain

and people who do it have a one in 20 chance of being killed at work.

We're talking about the treacherous world of deep-sea fishing.

We're about to see the coastguard respond to a mayday

in what must be absolutely the worst conditions for a rescue.

It's snowing, a force-nine gale is raging

and a trawler is on fire, its five crew trapped on board.

The coastguard have released this dramatic film of events as they unfold.

'The North Atlantic Ocean.

'The freezing cold night.

'Force-nine winds whip the sea into a frenzy.

'And in the middle of all this, the fishing boat Be Ready is ablaze.

'These incredible pictures were captured by a rescue helicopter's camera.

'The flames and hot gases have forced the five fishermen to the front of the boat.

'Clinging on, their lives hang in the balance.

'This fire started over an hour ago.

'Skipper Ellis Fullerton had been asleep in his bunk.'

The first I remember is waking up and somebody shouting, "Fire, fire!"

I went up the hatch just in my underwear, basically,

and as I got to the top of the ladder, I could see the fire.

I never actually tried to extinguish it, it was impossible.

I just went straight up to the bridge and I started to put the mayday out.

'Ellis immediately sent a satellite distress signal to alert the coastguard.

'The fire had started in the galley due to an electrical fault.

'Fanned by strong winds, it was ripping through the trawler at frightening speed.'

It was just basically like a blowtorch.

It was moving and going through the ship faster than you ever could imagine a fire could ever move.

'45 miles away, Pentland Coastguard in Orkney received Ellis's distress call.'

'Pinpointing the Be Ready's position,

'they alerted all nearby shipping and scrambled rescue helicopter Oscar Charlie from its Shetland base.

'Winch man Kieran Murray was onboard.'

Personally, my greatest fear is anything to do with fire.

So when you hear that it's a small fishing vessel

with five POB, on fire, winter's night, in snow, heavy seas,

to me, that's a nightmare. There's nothing worse.

'Back on the fishing boat, things were getting worse.

'Ellis discovered that he had lost control of the engines.'

All the emergency stops wouldn't work.

We couldn't get the speed off the boat. It was carrying on moving ahead.

'Not knowing that Ellis couldn't stop the boat,

'his crew had started to launch the life rafts.

'They thought they were doing the right thing, but disaster was about to strike.'

With the pandemonium, everything happening,

me trying to speak to the coastguard, trying to get a signal back, trying another channel,

the life raft got torn away.

'The combined forces of the boat moving forward and the strong winds

'had snapped the lines tying the rafts.

'Their chances of survival were now looking bleak.'

At that point, we had nothing left.

'In the meantime, another fishing vessel, the Mispar, had answered the coastguard's call for help.

'And, as fate would have it, the boat was skippered by David Robertson,

'Ellis's friend and neighbour.'

'The Mispar has its trawling nets out, worth thousands of pounds.

'But after hearing Ellis on the radio,

'David instantly decided to cut them away so that he could rush to his friend's aid.'

For David to have to cut away his gear, it's a big thing.

Anybody in this job knows it's worth a lot of money,

but David told me, he said he knew from my voice, when I was saying we were on fire,

that something very, very serious was wrong.

'Unfortunately for Ellis and the crew,

'both the Mispar and the rescue helicopter were over an hour away from the burning boat.'

We want the aircraft to get there as quickly as possible

so we can rescue the five crew. You can't go any faster, but you wish you could.

'Onboard the Be Ready, the fire was intensifying.

'Ellis and his men were running out of time and space.'

I went to go and get the lifejackets, cos we decided at this point

we had to be on the bow. There was nowhere else we could go. It was the furthest away from the fire.

I remember the heat from the fire was so much that my socks were sticking to the deck.

'Now huddled at the front of the boat,

'Ellis and his men haven't had the chance to grab proper clothing.

'With the flames at their backs, they're caught between the devil and the freezing deep blue sea.'

Having no life rafts, if this boat was to sink

or we have to go in the water, we're dead.

Absolutely extraordinary pictures.

Ellis and his crew are in an impossible situation.

Their boat is in danger of being totally engulfed by fire.

Even if the coastguard get to them in time, winching them to safety is going to be incredibly difficult

if not impossible, as we'll see shortly.

Now, whiplash happens in over 50 percent of car collisions.

It affects over 400,000 people and the resulting neck pain can be permanent.

Belinda knows all about it. She ended up being cut from the wreckage of her car

just minutes after arranging to trade it in to a dealer.

We'll be telling you how to avoid whiplash later,

but first, Belinda is going to talk us through her accident.

I'd been with a friend that day and we'd gone to look at a new car

for myself, dropped her home,

driving back to my mum and dad's house.

Traffic was quite steady. It wasn't rush hour.

But it was just flowing quite naturally.

'The traffic came to a halt, Belinda stopped, as well,

but the car behind didn't.'

It's an automatic thing for me just to look up in my rear-view mirror,

and as I did, I just saw the red car driving

and what probably was seconds felt like minutes.

I'm thinking, "She's not stopping. She's not stopping.

"Please stop, please stop." And then, suddenly, the impact.

SIREN WAILS

'Critical care doctor Louisa Chan is on duty in a rapid response car.'

So we're going to a four-vehicle road traffic collision in Hythe.

We know that there's one person with neck pain and back pain,

but we don't know how many other casualties are involved.

Let's see what's gone on.

'Louisa arrives to find a red car has smashed into the back of Belinda's Renault Clio,

'sending her into the van in front.

'Of the drivers involved, only Belinda needs serious medical attention.'

-This is Belinda.

-Hello, Belinda.

She's a 25-year-old lady who was driving this car.

The car was hit from behind, which shunted her into the one in front

-and she did a bit of that.

-Oh, dear.

-She's complaining of typical sternum seatbelt pain.

She's also complaining of C7 upwards,

-so all of it, all tenderness.

-OK.

-And how fast is this road?

-60 miles an hour.

-OK.

-She reckons they were down to about 30.

-Cos they were slowing down. OK.

'After being violently shaken, Belinda has been left with

'a great deal of pain in her neck and lower back.'

Right, I'm going to have a quick feel of your chest

and feel your tummy and everything, all right?

I felt instant pain and just generally feeling quite scared, cos I felt like I couldn't move.

The first thing that went through my head was, "Oh, my God, have I got spinal injuries

"where I won't be able to move my legs again?" So I was feeling slightly hysterical.

Still a bit stressed.

-I've calmed down a hell of a lot.

-Yeah. Good.

-So is it that side?

-It's all of it, it just feels...

-Sore?

-Yeah.

-Really sore. That hurts.

-Sorry, sweetheart.

'Despite her pain, Belinda is more scared by the thought of needing an injection for it.'

-She's got a phobia of needles.

-Has she?

The thought of needles just sends my heart racing and pounding even more.

Do you want to take some tablets painkiller-wise?

-That would avoid the whole needle thing.

-Yeah, if possible.

-OK, that's fine.

I've had one filling my whole life and I refused an injection,

so I'd rather go through the pain of having a filling

than actually have the injection to stop the pain.

Unfortunately, we need to take the roof off your car to get you out

because we need to protect your neck, OK? We're not taking any chances.

'Satisfied that Belinda doesn't have any other serious internal injuries,

'Louisa doesn't want to rush her removal and risk further harm.'

We've got to be very careful. She hasn't got any tingling, she can move her arms and legs and is fine,

but we can't clear her C-spine until we've had X-rays to make sure there isn't any bone injury.

'Louisa is keen that Belinda does receive some kind of pain relief before they start to move her.'

-I've got chewing gum.

-That's all right. Do you want to spit it out?

I've got three tablets. Do you want me to give them one after the other? Do you want water now?

We're going to save that water for you just in case we need more tablets, OK?

'Paramedic Claire Gedge continues to hold Belinda's head steady

'while fire crews cut the roof off around them.'

The lady that was sat behind me holding my head,

she was brilliant, she was talking me through everything.

The vibrations, I think, were the worst bit, and just hearing the final cracks and crunches

as everything got taken apart.

'With the roof removed, the team used many hands to support Belinda

'and gently ease her onto the spinal board.'

It was almost like holding me up in awe or something.

You automatically do feel a bit wobbly,

like you're about to fall off and back into the car, but I knew I was in safe hands.

-You all right?

-Mm-hm.

-That's as bad as it gets now.

'Once Belinda's in the ambulance, Louisa can give her a more thorough check over.'

All sorts of aches and pains are now emerging because she's been in this impact,

but other than that, her blood pressure is stable,

her heart rate's stable. She needs transporting to Southampton General

to have X-rays of her cervical spine to make sure there's no damage done

and hopefully, all being well, they'll be able to clear her and give her painkillers

to sort out all the other injuries.

-Belinda's here. I'm delighted to see that you're OK. You had quite a bash.

-Yeah.

-Tell me about your injuries. What was the main problem?

-Mainly my neck and my lower back felt very tender.

My legs were quite badly bruised, as well. So just generally felt awful.

And I know you had whiplash. How did that affect you?

At that point, I felt like I couldn't move, somebody was pushing me back to the chair.

I couldn't move my neck, and they advised me not to move much, either.

And afterwards, when I got home, generally just feeling awful and not being able to move much at all.

Danny, you're a paramedic. You see people with whiplash quite a lot.

-What is whiplash?

-We call it whiplash because the neck has gone through the activity

that a hand would go through to create a whip lashing noise.

The actual injury is a muscle strain in the neck,

but the industry has chosen to call it whiplash

and everybody knows it as whiplash, so to save complicating anything,

-it's just called whiplash.

-You say a muscle strain.

-What is that muscle doing and why does it feel so painful?

-It's going from the reaching back extremity

to the forwards extremity in such a short space of time without the muscle being warmed up.

-It just pulls and strains the muscle.

-And goes into spasm?

-It does go into spasm, yeah.

-It's not just from car accidents.

-No. Absolutely anything.

Other common ones would be a particularly bad tackle in a rugby match

or kids at school, if one of them was stood up and got shoved from behind,

the activity of the head going backwards and then coming forwards again would be enough to cause it.

-And how long does it last?

-Again, it depends on the severity of it.

If it was a low impact, then it might just be a stiff neck for a few days,

take some pain relief and it would correct itself.

In a more severe case, a higher impact, like Belinda's accident,

or in some cases worse, the injury can last for years.

Gosh. Belinda, this was four or five months ago. How are you feeling now and how does it affect you?

At the moment, I'm fine sat here, no problem at all.

Cold mornings, I start to feel a bit stiff, if I've been laid in bed funny,

I wake up a little bit sore. But at the moment, I'm OK.

Good, I'm glad to hear it. There is actually something we can do to try and help prevent it in our cars.

Yes, there is. I'm outside with a wreck of a car that's had a front-end shunt, the opposite,

but there's a reason for that. We'll come to that later.

I'm here to meet Matthew and his colleague. Would you like to introduce us?

This is a special whiplash crash dummy called a Biorid,

and he's used to measure the risk of having a typical injury in a rear-end crash

where whiplash is the most common injury.

Matthew's from the Thatcham Vehicle Research Centre.

How should you set your head rest to make sure that you protect yourself from whiplash injury?

The first thing is, it's not a head rest, it's a head restraint.

It's an important safety device.

-It's as important as the seatbelt or the airbag.

-Is it?

-It's a restraint.

It's to stop you getting an injury. You should adjust your head restraint by raising it up

so it's as high at least as the top of the head.

Many head restraints have got moveable pads here, so you can move it.

You want to be, if necessary, with the head in contact with the full front face of the head restraint.

-That will give you protection.

-I know you're thinking, "How important can a head restraint be?"

We've got some footage. Here we go.

If you look at the top there, there's a head restraint that's correct,

the one at the bottom isn't. On first viewing, there doesn't seem to be a big difference.

But as it runs through again, look at the bottom one and the flex.

The important thing there is the head restraint at the top

gets in contact with the head very quickly and moves forward to meet the back of the head,

so you get no differential movement between the head and the thorax.

Whereas the head restraint at the bottom was so far away

that the head bent right back and there was a huge distortion in the neck, which creates the injury.

To be honest, in all my time of owning cars, I've never seen a head rest that opens like that,

so if your head rest doesn't open, how do you put the back of your head in connection with the seat?

If you can't get it closer than that, you can always normally move the seat back so it's further up,

so you can get the seat more upright and get your head closer to the head restraint.

If you can feel the head restraint behind your head when you're driving,

-you're protected from whiplash.

-What percentage of cars have their head restraint correct?

Only about 25 percent of people adjust their head restraint correctly.

75 percent of cars out there have their head restraints in a position

where you will receive major neck injury if you are rear-ended.

So go out and check.

Thank you very much, Matthew.

Take a look at this car again. A bent steering wheel, mark on the windscreen here,

bent in front, door panel bent. What does that say to you? It says accident.

But to a paramedic, it tells a whole story. They can start treating just by looking at the vehicle.

Thanks, Nick. I promise I will adjust my head rest.

Dad Richard's having a well-earned lie-in after a busy night shift

when he gets a wake-up call from his unborn child.

With no time to head to hospital, Richard is going to need some help.

Here's the 999 call that he made.

WOMAN MOANS

WOMAN SCREAMS

Well, something wonderful was happening there for Richard

and it's about to be the first birth for the call-handler. More later.

Still to come on Real Rescues, to anyone else, it's a rusty old banger,

but to Michael, it's his much-cherished Betsy.

And he doesn't want to give up on her, even when she's on fire.

-Get out the way!

-Get out the way!

Back to the burning trawler in the middle of the Atlantic.

The five trapped fishermen are hanging on for their lives.

A coastguard helicopter and a second trawler are on their way

but even if they do arrive before the burning ship goes down,

they have a force-nine gale to contend with.

Winching the fishermen to safety will be very difficult and very dangerous.

'The helicopter gets the first sighting.

'These are the actual pictures from the infra-red camera as it approaches the burning boat.

'The heat it's generating makes it stand out like a beacon against the icy cold waters.'

You know this is an intense fire when you can pick it up from that distance.

And as you're gradually getting closer, all you see is a white mass.

And then very fine detail of the crew standing on the bow of the vessel.

All the heat coming from the flames is wrapping itself round the bows of the vessel

and you think, "God, the flames are licking around them."

'For the fishermen, the arrival of the helicopter has come not a moment too soon.

'The past hour has been torturous.'

We'd been sort of lying there on the deck trying to breathe, not being able to breathe,

and gasping for a breath of air

and then suddenly the fire would be sort of doused by a lump of water with the boat rolling

and then you'd get to breathe and there'd be steam.

And then suddenly the whole lot would just go up again

and you'd hear like a "woof!" and the flames would be over the top of your head again.

Never even went through my head surviving at that point. I thought it was probably all over.

'With time of the essence, winch man Kieran Murray wants to get down onto the deck

'to winch the men up as quickly as possible.'

We would put a high line, which is a method of getting the winch man onto the deck of the vessel,

so a line would be lowered to the vessel and the crew would pull it in

and attached to the line will be the winch man on the winch hook.

'Pilot Paul Bentley flies the helicopter right over the trawler.

'Winch operator Gary Williams lowers the line.'

We had a hold of the rope from the helicopter.

When you've got five guys on a boat which is on fire and they're fighting for their lives,

they're going to take a hold of that line to try and pull the guy down.

'Kieran starts to get winched down.

'His life is in the hands of his colleagues, Paul and Gary,

'as they manoeuvre him with the helicopter to avoid the many hazards.'

There was the rigging, the mast,

all the masts, and the boat was moving so much

that he was going up about three or four metres and then he was moving down three or four metres.

'Kieran gets to within 20 feet of the deck when the blaze intensifies.'

All of a sudden, the fire was fed by a burst pipe or something

and just became bright, bright red followed by very dark, thick acrid smoke.

I couldn't see the crew only 20 feet away.

When I looked up, I couldn't see the aircraft.

So you're in this limbo of not knowing where you are.

'From the helicopter, winch operator Gary has also lost sight of Kieran.

'He could be dashed against the mast. It's too risky to continue.'

The winch man must be brought back to the helicopter.

All hopes of rescue now lie with the other trawler,

but how on earth will they move the crew from one boat to another?

We'll be back with that rescue in just a few minutes.

I've come back outside because I want to talk you through this vehicle.

Damage to the front end of the vehicle. What does that tell you?

Damage to the windscreen. What does that tell you? Damage to the side. Get any clues yet?

Well, for someone like Danny here, who's stayed with us to have a chat,

this tells an enormous story from the moment they arrive on the scene.

Cos you'll look at a vehicle as you pull up, won't you?

Yeah. We're still in the ambulance and as we're approaching the scene,

we've got a good vantage point cos we're quite high up, so we can assess the vehicle for any damage

-before we even get out.

-Imagine you've arrived on scene now. You usually park in front.

-What are you seeing?

-Look at the back. There's no impact, no damage at the back,

so we would assume that it's not had any rear impact,

so the injuries you might expect to see from a rear impact are unlikely to be there.

As we move forward, you can see that the top of the car is undamaged.

There's no sign that the vehicle's rolled over,

so until we hear from witnesses or the driver, we assume it's not rolled over.

As we come up here, the driver's door's got some impact on the side,

-so we might look for injuries that could be caused there.

-Like what?

Generally you're looking at the right side of the body, so a broken leg,

the lower and upper part of the leg, ribs, shoulder, arm.

-And a hip is particularly dangerous here.

-Yeah, if it was a pelvis,

you can lose half of your circulatory blood volume into a fractured pelvis,

-so that's quite a significant injury.

-What about this impact?

This one has been done from the inside, cos it's slightly dented outside,

so that would suggest that the driver's not been wearing a seatbelt and they've been thrown forward.

A seatbelt would stop you short of that.

-Interestingly, when you come to a vehicle like this, the occupants might already be out.

-Yeah.

-So will this give you a clue what you ought to be looking for?

-Definitely.

If we saw this car, we'd want to know where the driver was

and we would go over and treat the driver

for the injuries that we would expect to see from in there.

We always treat for the worst and hope for the best, so until we know otherwise, we'd treat a neck injury

and, if the side impact was more severe,

we'd treat it as a possible fractured pelvis.

Which is extraordinarily dangerous for potential blood loss,

-which can't necessarily be seen on the outside.

-No.

-You call this mechanism of...

-Mechanism of injury.

-And it's almost like a detective thing that you can do.

-Yes, it is.

History makes up a massive part of our assessment of any patient.

-Not least because the patient could be unconscious.

-Absolutely.

The treatment and assessment of the patient is the biggest thing,

but the history, before you've even stopped the ambulance, tells us a big part of the story

-as to what we need to look for.

-Lovely. Thank you. Fascinating stuff.

Let's go back to those terrifying scenes in the North Atlantic.

A fishing boat is on fire. The crew are stranded onboard

and the coastguard helicopter can't winch them to safety.

Another trawler is heading their way, but how are they going to be able to help?

'Trapped at the front by the flames and choking smoke,

'Skipper Ellis and his crew wait for the arrival of fishing vessel the Mispar.

'Then they hear the ominous sound of their boat's engines shutting down.'

That's when I started wondering if the fire was in the engine room.

If the engine room flooded, that would be it, the boat would be going down for definite.

So we had to prepare for the worst.

So we had ourselves tied together to basically help us to be seen

or to float us up to the surface a bit better.

'Up above in the helicopter, winch man Kieran hopes the men don't end up in the water.'

We're talking about the Atlantic on a dark January night.

Not a place you want to be without a survival suit.

'Just when it looks like they've run out of options, the Mispar arrives.

'Its Skipper, David Robertson, has got here as fast as he could

'after hearing that his friend, Ellis, was in danger.'

When we saw the lights of David coming,

it was just, erm, it was a sigh of relief to see that.

The Mispar could get a life raft and pass it to the Be Ready

and that way, at least the crew from the Be Ready would get into a life raft,

we would then continue with the rescue from the life raft.

'A rope needs to be thrown from the Mispar to Ellis and his crew.

'To get close enough in these turbulent conditions,

'David will have to pull off a dangerous manoeuvre.'

He had to put the bow of his ship right up into the wind to try and come up alongside us.

If he caught the wind the wrong way,

the wind could start pushing him onto us.

One of the dangers for the Mispar was that she would literally crash into the Be Ready.

If that happens, you've got one sinking vessel and one burning vessel.

You try throwing a rope into a force-nine gale.

It's only going to go a few feet and then it's going to go with the wind,

so they had to get so close to basically pass it to us.

A superb piece of seamanship from David.

Risking not just his own vessel but his own crew

just to get this line to the other crew.

'They've done it. Ellis has got the rope.'

It takes a lot of skill and a lot of experience over the years

-to get as close as what they did.

-Four of us in the helicopter crew were all cheering.

'With remarkable accuracy,

'David has brought these two large boats within inches of each other

'on a rough, rolling sea.

'The Be Ready's crew have their lifeline.

'David can now move the Mispar away,

'allowing the life raft to be reeled in.'

You're now wishing the crew to get into this life raft as quickly as possible

because you're thinking that this vessel is going to blow up.

I think that was all of our fears, that this is going to go in a big bang.

'Ellis and his men finally have the chance to get off this burning boat.

'They waste no time jumping for the life raft.'

After everything that had happened, coming down the ladder was a walk in the park

compared to what had happened before.

They got down this rope ladder and into the life raft, all five of them,

and then they cut themselves free and, again, that was great to see,

because now you know you've got them in a life raft, clearing away from the vessel,

and it meant that our rescue now would be much easier.

'After only being able to watch on, the helicopter team can now directly help the men.'

I'm now winched out of the aircraft into the water

and then trawled, so my feet are in the water,

to try and keep me in the right direction towards the life raft.

Not an easy job in sea conditions and wind conditions like that.

But Captain Paul Bentley and Gary Williams, the winch operator, did a tremendous job

to winch me into the life raft.

'In the driving sleet and snow, Kieran stays in the life raft as he sends the men up two at a time.'

As quickly as we could, they were winched from the life raft, with myself remaining till last.

'Ellis comes up with Kieran. The ordeal is over.'

I remember looking and seeing the boat still burning and going away from it and then thinking,

"What has happened here? Is this a dream?"

I was thinking it must be a dream or something.

'That this nightmare scenario ended without loss of life

'is down to the combined heroism and skill of a helicopter crew

'and in particular the Mispar's skipper, David Robertson,

'who cut away his valuable fishing nets to get there faster

'before risking his own boat to pass the lifesaving rope.'

If he hadn't done that, we might not have been here today.

'Helicopter Oscar Charlie returns to Shetland,

'taking all five fishermen back to their homes and families.'

Once we were back in the aircraft, we did have a little laugh,

because we were all streaked in blackness and the smell of burning

and this is the end of January and in two days' time,

there was going to be a local festival called Up Helly Aa

where they burn flaming torches and the impression was they were laughing

because they've had their early Up Helly Aa with the burning vessel and they've survived it.

Once the fire eventually burnt itself out,

the Be Ready was towed back to shore by the coastguard,

and you can see in these pictures the devastating damage caused by that huge fire.

Amazingly, the fish onboard could still be sold.

It was protected by its ice packing.

The captain of the Mispar was commended in the investigation that followed. Here's what was said.

"The Mispar's skipper acted in the highest traditions of the sea.

"To approach another vessel in those conditions requires not only the highest level of skill

"but also courage and determination and confidence.

"The captain and his crew all accepted the risk to their lives

"and it's through their efforts that the crew of the Be Ready were rescued."

Absolutely extraordinary pictures, I think you'll agree.

An extraordinary effort by those seamen and what a life they live.

Now, from saving lives to bringing a new one into the world.

Earlier we heard Richard call 999.

His wife has gone into labour on the landing at home.

Call handler Sarah Bamber is talking him through it.

The baby's well on its way so Richard needs both hands free.

Luckily, mother-in-law Jackie is there to relay Sarah's instructions.

I am pushing.

MUFFLED PANTING

And here she is, lovely little Maisy with a lovely smile for us. Thank you very much.

-Congratulations to both of you two.

-Thank you.

Who did the most hard work, you Richard or Emma?

-Well, I have to say Emma.

-But you felt like a bit of a hero, I bet, that day.

-Man of the moment, I've been called.

-Really?

-Yes.

Were you a bit alarmed? Were you scared? How was it?

I was scared when I was told I'd have to deliver the baby

but then everything just takes over and you follow the instructions.

-You said you felt like you were watching yourself on telly.

-Like I was watching somebody else.

-A bit different for you. You weren't expecting to have the baby on the landing.

-No, definitely not.

I was definitely hoping to get to hospital.

-And you put your makeup on beforehand.

-I did, just in case.

You never know who's going to turn up.

You wanted to go to the hospital because there's a new ward.

A new maternity unit at the North Staffs Hospital, yeah,

so I was a bit gutted afterwards when they said, "No, you don't need to go to hospital."

Were you frightened at all or not, when you knew she was going to be delivered there?

It honestly never dawned on me that we weren't going to get to hospital

until Richard laid me on the bathroom floor.

-And by then...

-You were more apologetic than anything else.

-Yeah, I was really sorry.

-She was saying sorry all the time.

-What were you thinking, Richard?

-I was just telling her not to apologise and push.

Well, the person on the other end of the phone, Sarah, is here.

-You were pretty relieved when you heard that cry.

-Definitely. It was nice to hear her crying.

It was your first call like this, wasn't it?

Yeah, it's the first baby I've delivered.

Take us through it. What were you feeling?

When I was told that they could see the head,

my stomach was sort of flipping and I was quite nervous

but I was excited, as well, cos I wanted to go through it all with them.

Normally they get there before we have time to deliver it,

so it was nice when I did go through it, but the nerves were definitely going.

And they gave you a round of applause here, I understand?

Yeah, when I came off the phone, everyone was cheering

-and I got a nice round of applause.

-I want to show you something.

In the Scottish Ambulance Service, they have a tradition. When somebody delivers a baby,

-they give them one of these.

-Oh, OK.

-And they've sent it for you.

-Aww, thank you!

-So there's a little stork delivering the baby and that's for you.

-Aww, thank you very much!

-Will you wear it?

-Yeah.

Richard, any plans for a new career?

-Freelance midwife.

-THEY LAUGH

It's not something you'd consider, is it?

No. Although the feeling's brilliant delivering my child, I don't think I could do it for anybody else.

-She's a bit of a daddy's girl, isn't she?

-She is, yes.

-She comes to me quite easily.

-Will you tell her in the future what happened?

-Yes, there'll be a big smile on her face.

-Thanks very much. Thanks, Maisy.

Very cute, but I'm pleased I didn't have to deliver any of my three.

Now, Michael's pride and joy isn't exactly a classic car from the golden era of motoring.

You'd be hard pushed to give it away. But he loves it.

So much so, he can't bear to be parted from it, even when it catches fire.

'Green watch are heading out to a fire in a city street.

'They've received more than one call, so the crew manager is already preparing for a serious fire

'in a potentially tricky place to work.'

We're off to a car fire outside a public house in Bedford Place.

It's a narrow street. We've had numerous calls,

so normally that's confirmation that it's a growing incident.

'It's not difficult to find. They follow the smoke.'

Next on the right.

Looks well alight. Plenty of smoke in the area.

'They turn the corner to see thick smoke pouring from the bonnet of a small car.'

-Looks like the yellow one.

-'The owner is looking on, stunned,

'and needs persuading to move away from his burning vehicle.'

-Get out of the way.

-Get out of the way.

Get out of the way!

'As the crew prepare to start dousing the car with water,

'AJ's first thought is getting the man away from the fumes.'

Come out of the way, sir. Come out of the way.

Don't breathe that smoke in.

'The fire crew will soon put this fire out.

'They just need to get access underneath the bonnet.'

-Is the car unlocked?

-Yeah.

OK. Where's the bonnet pull?

'They blasted the fire with water and it's doing the job.

'The car's not looking too good, though.

'And owner Michael's looking pretty upset.'

It was smoking quite a lot so I just thought, "Get out of the way."

Yeah, a bit gutted, really. It's been with me a long time, Betsy.

'Michael had just parked up to meet a friend for lunch after a game of golf when he noticed the smoke.

'This car might not be the newest or most stylish,

'but to Michael, she's Betsy, and has a place close to his heart.'

It's obviously the owner's pride and joy and he's quite anxious

about his car. But when it's your only form of transport,

I guess it's quite concerning.

'At last, they can get the bonnet open.

'The fire's almost out, but it seems Betsy will never be quite the same again.

'Betsy the Peugeot has been ferrying him back and forth to Reading and Basingstoke for many years.

'The damage is extensive and Michael's trying to come to terms with Betsy's demise.'

That's a good old vehicle there.

Diesel, nice economical...

That's the end of that, isn't it?

-It does look like it.

-Yeah, I'd say so.

-Unless you know any miracle workers.

-No.

If I had a magic wand...

'All Michael can do is organise recovery,

'unload his golf clubs and start to mourn his reliable Betsy.

Four years!

Four years! I am gutted, mate! It's been a good car!

What can I say?

'The fire-fighters have done their job

'but the cause will remain a mystery.'

Could be electrical. Very strange.

Who knows? Who knows?

I'm no expert.

We put them out.

Just an update. The lady who fell of a horse yesterday, Helimed's arrived

so she'll be in hospital very soon. They've been very busy today

-so we haven't bothered them too much, cos we're the least important thing here.

-We are. More Real Rescues soon.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

E-mail [email protected]

.