Episode 8 Real Rescues

Today on Real Rescues, a freak accident on a campsite.

The Coastguard helicopter is called in to help

because Charlotte's morphine, gas and air are having very little effect.

And we meet the people who have to deal with situations like this.

Two horses trapped on a bridge. The owners are desperate and no-one is sure what to do.

Stop it! Stop it! Noooo!

Incredibly, both the horses and their owners are unhurt.

Hello, and welcome to Real Rescues.

Emergency calls for an ambulance come to specialist call handlers

in centres like this.

While they talk to callers, a separate dispatch team

has already picked up the address.

We were going to move on with the rest of the programme because we didn't have any interesting calls,

and then, just a few minutes before we started with this, all of a sudden, a call comes in,

and Kelly can tell us all about it. You have a gas leak but it's looking a little more dangerous than that.

Yeah, basically, we've had it

as a lorry reversing into a gas pipe.

The gas pipe started leaking...

Who's first on the scene for something like that? The fire brigade?

Fire brigade and police on scene at first. They've called us as backup for their own safety and wellbeing,

-for potential injuries and...

-Oh, I see.

-In case there's any inhalation.

So where you have a potential incident...

-if the fire brigade are at a particularly heavy incident...

-Yeah.

-..They'll call you and say, "Can you send backup in case there's any difficulties?"

-Yeah, they do.

-Just for the safety of their own staff.

-OK. Well, obviously, we'll keep an eye on that...

-And, obviously, patient care as well.

-..And see how that develops, and, of course, we'll keep you updated.

When we think of emergency services, we generally think of police, fire and ambulance.

There is, of course, a fourth emergency service, the Coastguard.

Their patch is often remote and really difficult to get to,

so when a freak accident happens the Coastguard helicopter is scrambled.

OK, ambulance is already there?

Coastguard Helicopter Rescue 106 has been scrambled.

They're heading to a campsite where a woman has had a freak accident.

Onboard are pilots Captain Kevin Balls and Glynn Stacy,

winch operator Tony Campbell and winchman Pat Holder.

The accident has happened 30 miles west of Portland. The crew follow the coastline.

The woman has somehow injured herself on a campsite.

To avoid rotor draughts blowing away the nearby tents, pilot Kevin must pick their landing spot carefully.

Winch operator Tony helps guide them down.

Medically trained Pat immediately heads to the casualty. An ambulance crew have been treating Charlotte.

They bring Pat up to date.

Charlotte is in a lot of pain after a rather unusual accident.

Running full pelt down the hill, she tripped and cartwheeled over,

landing heavily on her neck and left shoulder. Her partner Mike knew it was serious.

It was just a bit weird. We were just running.

She was running as fast as she could

because she did not want to let me win.

And I don't know if she just tripped over her own feet, but she didn't even have time to put her arms out.

Her face went straight down and she went straight over the top,

like, legs up in the air...

..just not every nice.

I'd caught up with her and I could see she was laughing a little bit at herself,

and so I started laughing, but then...

then she started crying and...

I knew she'd hurt herself.

I just started to panic and just try to reassure her that she'd be all right,

but her pain just got worse and sort of started to progress down her neck

and into her back.

And that's when I sort of... it all got a bit serious.

They think Charlotte has broken her collarbone,

but they're more worried about she might have done to the top of her spine.

Even after morphine Charlotte is really suffering.

She needs to keep taking the gas and air.

And it's not about to get any easier. The team have to get her on to a spinal board

so they can safely carry her back up the hill she fell down.

GASPS OF PAIN

Charlotte's delicate condition is why the ambulance crew called in the Coastguard helicopter.

The campsite is surrounded by winding country lanes, snarled up with holiday traffic.

It could take well over an hour to get her to hospital by road.

Charlotte is safe and secure on the helicopter. They're on their way.

The flight to the hospital in Dorchester will take less than ten minutes.

Considering what's happened, Charlotte is doing her best to stay upbeat,

but it's all starting to sink in.

The helipad at the hospital means the crew can directly hand Charlotte over to the care of A&E staff.

What some people do for a helicopter ride, eh!

-She must have been gagging for it.

-Staring at the ceiling.

It's all right, Charlotte. You're doing well, sweetheart.

Try and relax, sweetheart, you're doing great, all right?

I'm really sorry to be a pain.

The crew get ready to fly back to base,

but one thing's for certain - Charlotte will not be returning to her tent.

Instead, she'll spend the night here, undergoing a series of tests and X-rays

to find out the exact nature of her injuries.

Dear, oh, dear! Charlotte's life has gone from pleasure to pain, extreme pain, in one awful moment.

Things look very serious for her. We caught up with Charlotte to find out what's happened since.

They did 18 X-rays of my back and my neck,

and I was really frightened,

because I knew it took longer than a normal X-ray was taking.

But when the X-rays came back, it wasn't as serious.

I had pulled and twisted the tendons that run along my shoulder and into my neck,

so no broken bones, but it was still painful and a camping trip to remember!

Like an everyday accident but it just escalated.

They obviously had to take the precautions that they did

to make sure that it wasn't anything as serious.

But it could happen to anyone.

Just happened to me!

Yeah!

Now, picture the scene - the turkey's ready, the decorations are on the tree,

it's Christmas Eve and almost everything is ready at Gemma and her boyfriend Rob's house,

Anything else to do? Oh, yes! Have a baby!

Luckily, mum-in-law Tracy steps in and dials 999.

Tracy might say she doesn't want to deliver the baby, but she doesn't have much choice.

Fortunately, call handler Jessica is an expert and she knows exactly what to do next.

Isn't that the most fantastic thing? Wasn't that one of the most amazing things to listen to?

And the amazing Jessica who was on the call is here with us now,

who got a commendation for your work during that.

-I did, yeah, I did.

-Check you out!

I was actually getting quite emotional myself listening to that.

Are you emotional on the call or are you so centred on what you're doing to try and make things OK?

You don't have a choice. You can't be.

You have to be very assertive, you have to be to the point.

You can't let your own emotions get involved. I mean, I do get nervous, I'm not going to lie,

but you just have to do it, you don't have a choice.

How does it rank in terms of, like, nervousness

with having to deal with all the different calls that come your way?

-It's my most nervous call, personally.

-Is it?

-Yes.

-You didn't sound like it at all!

-You sounded absolutely bang on it all the way through it.

-Everybody has their own, I suppose.

-Personally, mine's this.

-Is it emotional listening to it back?

-It is, yeah, it is.

-It's very cool, isn't it? Though you're most worried about your accent, aren't you?

-I am.

Well, that's where you come from, there's nothing you can do about it.

-Would you like to see the family? Would you like to see the baby?

-I would, yes.

-We can show you that now.

Look!

Look what you did!

-That's Tracy with the blonde hair and that's the little one there. There you go!

-Isn't he lovely?

-Are you happy with that?

-Yes, I am.

They're very, very pleased. They wanted to say thank you.

No point me saying it. Why don't we let them say it? They've got a message for you.

Have they? Bless them!

Thanks for talking me through it, Jess, and delivering Archie.

Thanks, Jessica!

Aw! Isn't that amazing?

Is it...don't...we started off the programme talking about how doing this job

-must be one of the most amazing jobs in the world.

-Mmm.

-Do you really enjoy your job?

Because look what you did that day. You went to work and came home, having helped out...

I do enjoy it, yeah. Knowing you can do something like that, should the need arise, it's very special.

-All right, lovely. Thank you for coming in and talking to us.

-That's all right.

Now drama 30 feet up in the air. A first rescue attempt has narrowly avoided disaster,

the fire service have called in the specialists and it's all to the rescue of tiny Tom.

MIAOW!

It's a very long way down.

Tom, the ten-week-old kitten, loves climbing trees, but this time he's taken on too much.

He's stuck at the top of a 30-foot conifer.

Much to his and his owner's distress, he's been up there all night.

TOM MEWLS

He's having a right old mewl and sticking his head out.

Now animal-rescue specialist Colin Horwood has arrived at the scene

along with RSPCA inspector Sarah Jordan.

It's their job to try and work out how to get Tom down.

He was right through a foot from the top

and he was balancing out on those little fluffy branches that are sticking out.

Colin is an expert in this type of rescue, but the fire service can't reach him.

The tree isn't strong enough to support a ladder.

Instead, he's going to ask a friend who's a tree surgeon to climb up and try to rescue Tom.

Puss, puss!

As they wait for him, Colin and Sarah take a closer look at the climb.

-There are two trees. Is that two?

-Well, it's all off the same tree,

but, you know, he'll wriggle his way up through the middle there.

-As long as you've got baskets and bits and pieces.

-Yeah, I've got all sorts we can try.

-Yeah, well...

-Snake bags, if necessary.

-Yeah. That might be as good as anything.

MIAOW!

In the meantime, Sarah tries to talk Tom down.

Tom, Tom! MIAOW!

-Yeah, you know your name, don't you?

-Just here now.

-Yeah, I think that's him there, isn't it?

-Yeah.

He's come so far, haven't you?

Come on, then, darling! I can see your head!

But no amount of encouragement is going to persuade this kitten to come down any further.

He's awful gorgeous, isn't he?

I see you!

The kitten seems very distressed, but can't work out how to get down.

Tom's owner Rebecca has been worrying about him all night.

Finally, the tree surgeon Mark Hazel arrive.

Mark spends his life climbing up and down trees, but there's rarely a distressed kitten at the top.

The cunning plan is Mark here will go up the tree,

see where Tom's sat, grab hold of him,

probably pop him in a basket and bring him down.

If he's nice and friendly and happy, he'll just rope his way back down, just slide back down the rope,

and that'll be it.

Once he's in his helmet and carefully roped up, Mark's off.

Mark's progress is being closely monitored by Tom from above and by his owners down below.

The worst thing that could happen is that Tom could take fright and climb even further up the tree.

He's just getting up above Tom, so that if he decides to disappear off upwards...

he's in a position to get him and...

Just scruff him, Mark,

-Yeah?

-Yeah. Don't worry about that. Back of the neck.

Sometimes, I'm afraid...

-Yeah, lovely. You all right to come down?

-Yeah.

Lovely. There you go.

It might look like a harsh way to bring Tom down, but this is the way a mother cat carries her kittens,

and he won't hurt him.

-Got him.

-One Tom into the arms of the RSPCA. Well done, Mark. Thanks, mate. Nicely done.

He's purring.

And his delighted owner.

Well done. Nice one.

Still to come on Real Rescues - hit by an unidentified flying object,

the jogger knocked down by a mystery missile from the back of a speeding lorry.

It just bounced up, hit me hand, and whizzed off about six feet to the side.

Whacked me straight out.

And how not to rescue a horse. Watch this - it's amazing that no-one got hurt.

Whoa, whoa, whoa!

Stop it! Stop it! Noooo!

Incredibly, the horses and their owners were fine.

We meet the animal-rescue specialists

who show fire crews around the world how it should be done.

I thought I might bring you an update on the gas leak with Kelly, if she's not on the phone.

Obviously, you're hopping up and down and talking to the other people

because this incident has expanded a bit, hasn't it?

It has, yeah. We've currently got patient transport service on standby.

The wind direction has changed and it's heading to where we potentially may need to evacuate some people.

-Oh, really?

-Up to about 150 people, so...we've got them on standby.

Thank you for that. We'll keep up to date with this.

It's particularly interesting because what we have on this side of the room is all the callers...

we were saying at the beginning, calls come in, they dispatch the ambulances or emergency vehicles,

they're in contact, but in a situation like this where a big incident has kicked off,

now they're going to have to transport anything up to 150 people,

so this side of the room suddenly kicks in,

and that's why it's sounding so busy over here because these are the people who do all the transport,

and they're having to get vehicles organised and to this incident that's happening at the moment,

in case they have to move these 150 people. Interesting, isn't it?

Yes, it's really interesting how the whole thing works together.

We saw baby Archie being born on Christmas Eve earlier on.

I want to talk to Claire about birth, but I think she may be on the phone, so bear with me a second.

Claire, are you able to...? She can't speak to me at the moment.

She was going to talk to me about a call that she took in here

-when a little baby had the umbilical cord around its neck. We'll come back to that a little later.

-OK.

Well, OK, we'll move on then for the moment. A motorcycle crash.

At first sight, biker Tom seems to be very lucky. He's walking around after his collision with a car.

-We've heard how often that happens.

-But the paramedics soon realise he's not as well as he thinks he is.

Paramedic Claire McGonigle and Simon Goldsworthy are on their way to a busy Southampton road

where there's been a collision between a car and a motorbike.

It's believed at the moment we've only got one casualty

and that's the motorcyclist.

They arrive to find the motorcyclist Tom has got up and dragged himself to the bus stop,

despite being in a great deal of pain.

Keep nice and still for a second. Have you got any pain anywhere?

-All down my back, into my legs and my ankle.

-OK.

-My wrist.

OK, keep looking forward for a second.

The damage to the side of the car shows that Tom suffered quite an impact.

-How did you land?

-On my head, then rolled.

-On your head?

-I think so.

Did you come away from the bike or did you slide with the bike?

I went with the bike, I think. It went really fast. I just couldn't see nothing.

-I'm just going to press your neck. Tell me if you feel any pain where I'm pressing.

-Yeah!

-Just there?

-Yeah.

-So you've got pain in your back as well?

Yeah, my back is absolutely killing me.

Claire's very concerned about these pains. It could indicate a very serious spinal condition,

Just because Tom got up and walked doesn't mean his spine is not damaged.

-I'd like to immobilise you.

-What's that?

-Pop a collar round your neck.

-Yeah.

-And lay you down on a stiff board.

As well as the pain in his neck and back, Tom has cuts and bruises on his legs, arms

and his hand is bleeding.

-We need to just dress that finger cos it's dripping everywhere.

-OK.

-And then jacket off. Is your wrist hurting as well?

-Yeah, it's killing me.

-All right.

They need to remove some of Tom's clothing so they can put a collar on him to stabilise his neck,

but it won't be easy as his head must stay still throughout.

-Don't move your head.

-I'll try not to.

-We will try to get your jacket off without causing you problems.

If it doesn't work, we might have to cut it off.

- Just keep looking forward. - Can you straighten this arm?

-Yeah.

-Is it painful?

-Only my wrist.

-Only your wrist.

Luckily, Tom was wearing a very protective jacket which has saved him from further injury.

They've got the jacket off in one piece, but the hoodie will have to be cut off.

Simon, there's a T-shirt underneath, so if we can try and keep that for dignity.

Yeah, that's my work top as well.

They cut away his clothing, carefully avoiding the iPod in his pocket.

Where's this iPod go? Underneath the T-shirt.

I think so. I don't know. I can't remember.

The hoodie's gone, but at least they've saved the iPod. Now they can finally put the collar on Tom.

Imagine how much traffic it's going to cause.

But they still have to get him from the bus stop to the waiting ambulance.

However, they have all the right equipment.

What we're using here is called KED,

an extrication device, to immobilise Tom from the waist up.

Because he's in a sitting position already, this will just keep him nice and still from the waist up,

and then we can move Tom on to a board and lay him flat...

ready for going to the hospital.

-OK?

-Yeah.

-Right...

Tom looks more like a rocket man, but the crew can't risk any further injuries.

He's had a nasty impact to the top and bottom of his spine. They can't afford to take any chances.

He's eased gently on to a spinal board from where he can be lifted into the ambulance.

Tom is completely immobile, so when his phone starts ringing, he can't do a thing,

even though he fears it could be his family, concerned about the accident.

How are you doing, Tom?

After Tom has been stretchered safely into the ambulance, Simon can answer that phone.

It's Tom's dad and Simon tries to reassure him.

He's just going to be checked over, really.

It's just we want to get him checked over and get him sorted out, really.

Until they find out what's causing the intense pain in his back,

Tom will have to remain completely still.

Right, we're at the hospital. Just going to pop a little blanket over you.

We did quite a good job in cutting your trousers off, so you'll be flashing all the nurses!

You don't want to embarrass them!

They're met in the A&E department by Dr Rick Elliot.

OK, so what we need to do is have a feel of your back,

so we're going to feel along it to make sure there's no tender areas

that reflect a fracture or anything along those lines.

As long as you're not tender anywhere, we can hopefully get you off of this board.

-Yeah.

-Ready? Set...roll.

Of all Tom's injuries it is the pain in his spine that is concerning them the most.

OK, so I just need to lift your top up a bit here...

-Now I'm going to start feeling down here and I want you just to say yes.

-Yeah, that hurts.

That's painful down there, is it?

They need to remove the collar to properly examine his neck.

-Nothing up there?

-No.

If we come down on either side...?

-Just there?

-Yeah.

OK. I'm going to put the collar back on.

The persistent pain in Tom's neck and back at this stage is very worrying.

It could mean his back has been seriously damaged.

The only way to find out is by giving him an X-ray.

We've seen medics and fire crews using spinal boards and collars all the time on Real Rescues,

and we thought we'd have a chat with Danny about what...

Because we have them so often, we thought it's time we explained it.

What was particularly interesting about that, though,

is that the motorcyclist got up, walked away, sat down,

so you think he's all right, but then they put this... What do they call this one?

That's the KED, Kendrick Extrication Device.

OK, so how come they put one even though he's obviously walking around?

Absolutely...

it's a common thing to see

if at the point of an incident where somebody does get up

and walk away, it's a fight-and-flight reaction,

so like an adrenaline rush that would mask the pain so he wouldn't feel anything,

enough to get him out of the incident that's caused the injury, and then afterwards the pain would set in,

so it's quite a common thing.

We've seen you using these

and particularly we've seen in accidents what we call a spinal board.

-You don't call them that, do you?

-We call that an extrication board.

Because the term spine board could be quite unnerving to a patient who has to have one used on them.

Absolutely. Though they're not the most comfortable things to be in.

They're awful. They're not comfortable.

And I think part of the design is to avoid the comfort to an extent,

so that people are aware they've got it on, thus they know that it's restricting their movement,

and if they didn't know it was on there, they might feel comfortable enough to start moving.

We have a model of a spine here. What is it you're actually trying to protect when you put these on?

The idea really is to keep a neutral alignment all the way down the spine, to keep the head tight to the torso,

everything in line, so it restricts movement.

Cos the things... I'm going to try and bend the spine for you here in a way it might bend...

There you go. If you look inside there's a yellow line running down the middle.

-That's basically the spinal cord. It's protected by these sort of hooks of bone.

-Yeah.

-But if they become damaged or dislodged, that's what you're trying to make sure...

-Absolutely!

They're all hollow, the spinal cord runs down them,

but if a piece of bone were to break off there is a potential that that piece of bone through movement

-could sever the spinal cord.

-And you have tests before you'll move a head about?

-Which is the thing about not taking crash helmets off...

-Absolutely. Yeah.

We do a full assessment. We call it a C-spine assessment, which is the cervical spine,

that being the top seven vertebrae of the spine.

We look into those quite deeply to find out if there is any potential for an injury to the spine.

-Oddly, you will do that by hands tingling and the fingers, feet, all kinds of other things...

-Yes.

-But those will give you enough?

-Yeah.

-And tell you there's no shard of bone in that...?

But before we do that, we always immobilise, so we're treating for the worst but hoping for the best,

so we'll immobilise, then assess, and if it's not necessary to immobilise, consider removing it.

So you can basically... If you get put on a spinal board... What I'm then saying is,

-if you get put on a spinal board, it doesn't mean a spinal injury.

-No.

-You're treating for the worst.

-Yes.

On everybody that we suspect could have a potential spinal injury,

we use a board as a precaution. More often than not, they come off it unscathed, but we don't take chances.

-Lovely. Thank you very much for explaining that.

-Thank you.

And just as a back ref to that, in actual fact, Tom made a full recovery.

Now, we were going to talk to Claire... Are you on the phone?

-No.

-You're not. So we can catch up on the thing that Louise was going to talk about,

which was a particularly impressive birth that you managed to talk someone through.

Yeah. A gentleman came on the phone

and said that his wife was in labour,

so I just basically prepared the mother for birth,

just in case the baby was going to come before the ambulance arrived.

-Was this your first or second?

-No, this was about my third, I think.

-But this one got a little bit more complicated... Got a call.

-Sorry.

Do you want to take it? That's what they do!

Essentially what happened was... she was telling me earlier...

Basically what happened was she took the call, but it turned out to be more difficult,

because the umbilical cord was wrapped round the baby's neck,

so she had to talk the father through, not only the birth,

but getting rid of the umbilical cord as well...

End of the story was baby perfectly happy and father slightly shocked but very happy too,

and everybody in here giving her a cheer. It always makes them happy in here whenever a baby is born.

So we got that story in the end but we have to leave them when they get a call. So we'll move on. Louise?

Yes, you can really see how busy they are in here.

Now, earlier, we saw tiny Tom the kitten being rescued from the top of a 30-foot tree.

The team that rescued him, Hampshire's animal-rescue specialists, are here.

They're led by Jim Green and he's here today with his colleague Anton Phillips.

You're both real specialists and you train people around the world.

How did you become involved in animal rescue and why?

Well, the fire service have traditionally responded to animal rescues,

but perhaps not with the professionalism and knowledge

that we have now. Anton and I are from agricultural backgrounds,

And that gives you an understanding and instinctiveness around livestock that many fire-fighters didn't have.

You've really changed things, haven't you, the way you approach animal rescues,

-for lots of people as well?

-We've revolutionised animal rescue in terms of health and safety,

not only for ourselves

but for members of the public, first and foremost,

our veterinary colleagues,

a whole variety of other agencies that come in to deal with these animal incidents.

Yes. And you rescue all sorts of animals, big, small, all the rest of it, don't you?

Yeah, all manner of things. Everything from a tiny hamster up to a shire horse, and even zoo animals.

I saw you rescue a tiny little bird today, so fledglings as well.

-Well, I'd hardly call that a rescue!

-You moved it from one place to another, didn't you?

Well, before Jim and his colleagues set up this unit,

fire crews around the UK would do just the best they could.

As we're about to see, that would sometimes inadvertently put people as well as animals in danger.

This footage was shot by Manchester Fire Rescue a while ago,

before there was any training in animal rescue. Jim, talk me through what's going on here.

What happened was two horses were being ridden across a dilapidated bridge and have fallen through,

and the fire-fighters have turned up and doing the very best that they can to resolve the situation,

but, without an understanding of the hazard, things, as you'll see, will start to go wrong.

Yes, we saw there the fireman standing below the bridge, for example, not a good place to stand.

If you consider there's over a ton of horsemeat on that bridge

along with fire-fighters and members of the public,

it's not particularly sensible to have someone underneath that amount of weight.

-Yeah.

-If that was a Transit van, for instance, then you wouldn't consider it.

But because it's an animal, people let their guard down and that's one of the issues we have with animals.

A Transit van is not likely to kick you either, is it?

What about the owner? Because she was right next to the horse. Would you do that now?

Well, it depends on the circumstance, but what we don't want to do is involve members of the public

who could get injured. Our primary role is to protect members of the public

-and these situations can go badly wrong.

-She thought she was calming the horse down.

Well, let's see how that event unfolded.

The fire crews only have the best interests of the horses and the people in mind,

but this rescue does get very dramatic. No-one was hurt but here is what happened next.

Have you called the vet?

Stop worrying!

Whoa, whoa, whoa!

Stop it! Stop it!

Noooo!

SCREAMING

Paul, get hold of it.

She's all right.

SCREAMING

She's all right.

It's really terrifying watching those pictures.

I should say the horses, owners and fire-fighters were all fine.

Anton, you wouldn't approach it that way now. Let's just talk about that screaming first of all.

She was the owner, she was clearly worried... that's the natural thing to do.

The owner, of course, wants to do the very best for her animal.

The owner then becomes gradually more upset,

and from our point of view we would want to, in that case, probably remove the owner from the scene,

remove everybody from around the scene, so it's at least a safe scene for every human being.

And tell us about the effect the screaming had on the horses.

The owner is part of the animal's herd, the owner has fed and cared for that animal

for probably many years, and as soon as that owner starts to scream, the animal becomes upset

and starts to thrash around and it enters into a flight reflex to start with,

and then if it can't run away it will then fight.

Exactly what happened there, it was fighting for its life.

And then that, of course, you're talking about herds...

so the screaming set off one animal, and then the animal set off the other animal, did it?

It certainly did do that. And certainly when the first animal disappeared

out of sight of the second animal, the second animal then became very distressed,

and started to thrash around and then tried to follow it,

and, indeed, did follow it over the side of the bridge.

Yes, which was... As I say they were all OK in the end, but pretty dramatic stuff.

What would you do now? You said you'd first of all want to calm the situation down.

The solution to that is to calm the situation right down, to remove all the human beings first and foremost,

-and then probably obtain some food from somewhere...

-Yes.

-In that case, probably grass,

feed that animal and keep it very, very calm.

And even feeding them, would it...? They looked very distressed. Feeding them grass...

-Well, grass is a natural sedative...

-Yes.

-Or hay or something like that.

In that sense, you keep everything calm and then get a vet on scene,

get it sedated, to calm everything right down.

Probably, in that scenario, we would anaesthetise and lift with a crane.

A pretty difficult situation for everybody, but things are beginning to change, aren't they, Jim?

Yeah, very much so. We've been providing training for fire-fighters and for vets,

and the veterinary community are having a culture change as well,

and are becoming more like our medics in terms of trauma care at these type of rescues.

OK. And including those fire-fighters as well there. Thank you very much. That was fascinating.

In a little while, we're going to go out and have a look inside your brand-new animal rescue vehicle.

It's packed with some pretty unusual kit - sleeping bags for deer, I understand,

and lots of more sophisticated stuff as well. Thank you.

Now, you'd think a five-mile jog would be testing enough

but halfway through his country run, Robert gets knocked down by an unidentified flying object.

A passing motorist dials 999.

Traffic cop Tony Flatman is heading out along narrow lanes to get to the accident.

A jogger has been hit by something

which has fallen off the back of a lorry which failed to stop,

probably doesn't even realise something's fallen off.

But we're not sure of the extent of the injuries with the jogger.

Tony needs to get evidence from any witnesses, but these roads are difficult to negotiate

even for police cars.

You've just got to be careful driving around here, using sirens,

because the last thing I want to do is scare a horse with the siren and end up knocking some rider off.

As the road widens, Tony spots the ambulance.

Inside and laid-up on a stretcher is the injured jogger, Robert.

Hello, sir. What happened, then?

As the lorry was going past, and this object sort of come off the lorry,

it just bounced off the kerb, and came up hit me hand, and flew off to the side.

It was about that size, black in colour...

I thought it might look the size of a side wing mirror...

-but it was like a big lump of rubber or whatever...

-Right.

It just came off the lorry... if it was part of the tyre, I don't know...

It just bounced up, hit me hand,

and whizzed off about six feet to the side. Whacked me straight out.

Robert's leg, elbow and hand have suffered most.

Such a freak accident has left him very shaken.

I know it's probably the last thing you thought of, but any description of the lorry?

A big wide trailer...

A tipper?

-No, a big thing...

-An artic?

-Yeah. With a trailer.

-OK.

That lady saw more details... going past.

There could be a witness - the passing woman motorist who stopped and helped Robert.

Tony needs to talk to her.

-Did the lady phone the ambulance?

-Yeah.

-So your control room will have her details?

Robert's so upset by the accident he can't even remember his own phone number.

-079...

-07921...

Hang on a second... I don't phone very often...

-Do you know your home number?

-No, I can't remember offhand.

The wound to his hand will need to be cleaned and stitched in hospital.

Paramedic Chris Burton is also concerned about his hip.

The gentleman is complaining of a right hip pain

which is very difficult to assess.

He can weight-bear to some extent

which indicates it's nothing too serious.

He has a nasty cut to the top of his right hand, about an inch and a half, which will need a couple of stitches.

But there's nothing life-threatening or anything of that nature.

Tony can't leave without congratulating Robert on the hill he's just tackled,

even if his run did come to an abrupt halt.

-It's a big hill. You're mad!

-I'll save it for my comeback.

You're making me sweat thinking about it!

Tony will follow up the leads back at the station.

Unfortunately, those leads actually came to nothing, because they were unable to track down the lorry.

Obviously the person who actually saw the accident was more worried about Robert

than they were about taking down the details of the lorry that had clipped him.

So...that's the end of that one.

We're going to pop outside now

because, of course, Louise wanted to take a look in that brand-new vehicle,

or "state-of-the-ark" vehicle outside.

Now, Jim has described this to me as an ambulance on steroids. That's what it looks like.

It's a fantastic piece of kit. Let's look inside, Jim.

It's got all the stuff you need to rescue animals, hasn't it?

Very much so. It's a dedicated vehicle for animal rescue on a four-wheel drive chassis

to enable us to get equipment and crews to the scene of the incident

-which is often remote and rural areas.

-Yeah.

-And we've got a lot of stuff to cram in here,

so our workshops have come up with this very ingenious method of sliding this equipment out

to buy us some space inside.

-And, as you can see, it's kitted out with...

-Everything you need.

-Everything you need.

-Strops.

-Strops.

-Yeah.

-Hydraulic cutting equipment, we've got our strop guides...

our personal protective clothing for working in the muddy and wet environments we find ourselves in,

and all this array of equipment here for restraining animals

and decontaminating our equipment at the end of the mucky jobs that we find ourselves in.

And that, in fact, up there is called a Hampshire strop guide in America,

-because you're getting a bit of a worldwide reputation.

-Yes.

Really interesting piece of kit here. Tell me about this one. This is like a carpet.

This is one of our rescue paths, and as you can see here in the bag it folds up very neatly,

but we can inflate this using a cylinder of air,

-and this provides us with a safe platform. if you'd like...

-I'm only allowed in my gym shoes!

No stilettos on here, thank you!

This enables us to reach animals across slurry pits, bogs, that sort of thing...

We've got one where you rescued some shire horses and you dragged them along this, didn't you?

Yes, that provided us with a nice, slippery platform for skidding the horses along to safety,

and meant that we could work in relative safety as well, without going through the mud as well.

This is brilliant. I know that, Anton, you were part of designing that.

-It's not just big animals you rescue, though, is it?

-Indeed.

-Small animals. Lots of kit here.

-What's that?

-That's a swan bag.

-A swan bag?

-A swan bag.

After we've actually rescued the swan, and often we will use the swan hook, that piece of equipment,

to actually get it onside, we then confine it in the swan bag,

so, in effect, all we do, is wrap it, bring the two ends together,

and, in effect, it's like a handbag.

In fact, it looks like a watering can,

so you pick it up, the swan's got his neck out the front, its backside out the back,

it's completely confined and safe and it's safe for the swan.

It's not just wild animals as well. Domestic animals, dogs - you've got lots of kit for rescuing dogs here.

Domestic pets get caught in a variety of situations

and wherever they're caught, particularly when they're partially trapped, they can be dangerous.

We've got some pictures of a Rottweiler which caused you some problems.

The Rottweiler in the picture was trapped between two walls.

-The actual gap it was trapped in was five inches wide.

-Cor!

So that is a really tight situation.

Unfortunately for us, its head was available and it was available to bite us.

-You'd need some...

-We would have to use the heavy bite gloves.

And of course that would give us some support, I can scruff them,

and then, obviously, if it's spun in its own skin, it would turn round and probably try and grab my arm,

-so it's got heavy support there.

-OK.

We can use nooses, of course, obviously standard dog leads...

-And muzzles as well.

-And of course a muzzle, finally to...

-What about this?

This is for you when you get a bit tired, a sleeping bag?

Well, as you've seen, lots of sophisticated equipment,

but this is just a simple piece of equipment that we normally use when we rescue deer.

We can slot the deer inside, the deer will go very quiet,

and I can then secure it in the sleeping bag, take it off to a local woodland and release it safely.

-How did you come up with that?

-It was an idea from one of our RSPCA colleagues, actually.

-Brilliant.

-They use that sort of thing all the time.

-I love it!

So there you have this amazing vehicle behind you and there a simple sleeping bag...

-and it all helps to rescue animals. Brilliant!

-Thank you.

Fascinating stuff. Thank you very much, Kelly. Just getting an update there for you on the gas leak

which has been resolved. They managed to turn the gas off so there is no problem there any more,

which means they can stand down all the ambulances that had turned up...

also stand down the transport which was organised by this of the room

for the 150 people they thought they might have to evacuate.

I was also going to try and catch up with Claire at the end here, but she's on another call.

It's been really busy in here today and it's been great to be right at the heart of an emergency service,

seeing what they do on our behalf. We'll have more for you soon. See you.

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