Episode 15 Real Rescues

Today on Real Rescues, drama student Sam isn't acting. His broken arm is so painful,

he can't bear to look at it.

I don't want everyone to see it. I think it'll be pretty bad.

We can clear the room, sweetheart.

And this is the neighbour you need in an emergency.

He's settled everyone down and is calmly saving his neighbour's life.

Hello, and welcome to Thames Valley Police and Real Rescues.

As well as the police, today we're going to see firefighters and ambulance crews

rescuing people like you and me, from the badly injured cyclist

to the pensioner who insists there is nothing wrong -

despite being brought back to life nine times.

More on that later.

Now we'll show you what it's like for paramedics

as they arrive at the scene of an emergency.

A teenager with a broken arm sounds pretty straightforward.

Sam has come off a trampoline at his mate's house. This is what happens when the paramedics arrive.

Is he? OK.

-Hello, sweetheart. What's your name?

-Sam.

-And what were you doing?

-Trampoline.

I've flown off and put my arm down. I know it's broken.

-OK, let me have a look, sweetheart.

-I can't move my arm.

This one?

I don't want everyone to see it. I think it'll be pretty bad.

We can clear the room, sweetheart.

-It's not the first time.

-You've broken this one before?

This is the second time I've done this one. I've done this one twice.

-And you've got pins in that one?

-Yeah.

-Hold old are you?

-15.

-Mind your... If you can...

-MOTHER: His dad's on his way.

-OK.

We'll give you some Entonox in the meantime, the gas and air.

-Have you had this before?

-No. I don't really know what I'm doing. I refused it.

OK. No doubt when your mum gave birth to you, she gave you this. It's gas and air.

This lady will hold it for you. I need this other hand, sweetheart.

-Now just breathe in.

-Yeah. Can you not hurt...?

You suck on the gas and then I'll move it.

Make a funny noise, like a milkshake at McDonald's when it gets to the bottom.

Not too much of that.

-How does that make you feel?

-Dizzy.

-Dizzy?

-Keep sucking on it. Trust me.

-Wait, no wait.

-To give you something stronger, I need your hand.

-Can you not touch it, please?

I won't touch that one. I'll give you some strong pain relief in this hand.

-Trust me, you'll want this.

-No, can you not...?

-Mum says...

-Sorry.

If your mum says she wants you to have some,

because you've got a long journey ahead of you in the ambulance and it'll be bumpy, OK?

Hiya. Come in.

Do you want to tell her what you want to do?

-I want to give him some strong pain relief because we have to move him.

-Am I going to, like, pass out?

-No.

-Are you just giving me an injection?

-Yes.

-Is it going to be a nasty one?

-It'll hurt a bit, but trust me, it will take all the pain away.

So he's finally taking some painkillers.

This is Babs Mudge, who you saw treating Sam.

A couple of things. In trying to judge how painful something is...

-Plainly he's being quite brave because that's a nasty break.

-Yeah.

-How much pain is he in, do you think, at that stage?

-A lot.

I think he's being brave because he had family there and friends,

but a lot of pain.

-Probably being very brave in front of his mates.

-Yeah.

-And you judge it by saying between...

-One and ten is the way we score.

-One being...?

-One being like a scratch

and ten, for example, like your arm being chopped off, so you know that's extreme pain.

Why is he refusing or not wanting the anaesthetic?

-That happens a lot with children?

-It does.

Sometimes they've had experience before, like Sam had previous breaks,

and know what it feels like and they feel strange.

-Dizzy...

-Woozy?

-Yeah. They just don't know how to react to it.

Also maybe having had a few drinks and feeling that way before.

OK. Now, it's important to move Sam's arm, obviously,

but he's been in the situation before and really doesn't like it.

But it's going to really hurt.

It will hurt for a few seconds and that's it. A scratch.

-It'll be a little pinch.

-Compared to what you'll have to have...

Look at Stuart, your mate.

-It'll really hurt.

-It'll be nothing compared to how much that's aching.

This will help you. All that's left is this little bit of plastic.

-Are you giving me a cannula thing?

-Yeah. It's just a bit of plastic.

-I hate it.

-Yeah, all right. Sorry. Put it in.

-You won't even know it's been in.

OK, whatever you do, don't move your arm.

La la la la la... Relax.

-Keep talking.

-Relax, OK?

-Keep talking to Stuart.

-Stuart Stuart Stuart Stuart...

-Stuart Stuart Stuart Stuart...

-Relax.

-That's it. It's done.

Not too bad.

Fingers up. See? Didn't hurt that much, did it, compared to your arm?

-All right, fine.

-OK, first one, can you draw me up...

-Will this make me feel funny?

-..the morphine.

No. This little bit of water, you might feel a little coldness.

You're doing brilliantly. OK?

-Are you left-handed or right-handed?

-Right. Ow!

-Are you in the middle of your GCSEs?

-Erm... We've had a few mocks recently.

-OK, this is the strong stuff.

-But will this make me feel funny?

It might make you feel a bit strange, a bit spaced-out.

I didn't like that last time.

But what other option have you got at the moment, about the pain?

See you later.

Oh... sugar.

-I felt that everywhere.

-Yeah, you will do.

-You will do, sweetheart.

-I didn't like that.

-OK.

This is just water now.

I don't want to move.

Do you think, with your hand, you can take control of this hand?

-I don't want to pull it up but...

-Do you want the gas and air?

-HE GROANS

-Well done. We're nearly there.

-Quick quick quick...

-I need it a bit higher.

-Quick quick quick...

-With the shoulder. That's it.

-Quick! Agh!

-That's good.

-Done! Well done.

-Is it going to get tight on it?

No, it shouldn't. It's just to support it.

It's like having a cast, really.

OK, it's not hurting as much now, I think.

Oh! Just!

I'm doing a drama course over the week. There's no one that can fill in.

-Is it anything you've got to jump around with?

-Yeah. Saturday Night Fever.

-Oh.

You could do one...

A couple of things about that are interesting.

One is that you want to get it straight straightaway rather than wait till you get to hospital. Why?

For the circulation, to make sure he's got full sensation in his fingers and the rest of his hand.

-If not, there's a real danger of losing his hand.

-If you don't get blood flow all the way down.

Important to get painkillers going

because no way would you get that into a splint and move it around.

-No. I couldn't cope with it.

-So you've got to get some anaesthetic and get him straight out.

-When you went to the hospital, that splint you put on actually straightened it very well.

-Yeah.

Does that mean that the surgeons aren't then so sure how bad the break is?

Well, yeah, I had to explain again to the staff how bad it was

prior to me straightening it, really.

-Because you'd done such a good job...

-With the splint.

Sam's been incredibly brave. It was an excruciating broken arm.

Now it's a case of getting him off the sofa and onto the trolley.

We're going to put your bottom here, legs down there,

and then you're going to rest your arm on your leg, OK?

I'll help you.

Good.

-OK? Barry, can we just...

-Oh!

-No?

-Sorry. I felt it, like...

OK.

I can hold the whole of it if Barry helps you up, yeah?

FATHER: Go on, Sam.

OK, do you want to take hold of your arm, sweetheart?

Hold your arm. That's it.

Turn yourself round.

That's it, and sit yourself down.

-There you go.

-OK?

Now I'll hold your arm again, and you need to shuffle yourself back till you're comfortable.

-Up with your arm.

-Quick, put it down, put it down.

I was going to say we'll put a blanket underneath it.

-Do you want to sit up a bit more? Again?

-That's how I was...

HE MOANS

-How's that?

-Erm... yeah.

-Yeah? I can give you some more pain relief once we're in the ambulance.

TROLLEY WHIRS

Finally a smile.

Well, Sam and dad Graham have joined us here to chat about that.

Why weren't you boo-hooing?

-I would have been. I'd have been screaming and shouting.

-Yeah.

Previous times that I've broken it, I've been quite upset, but...

I guess I was braver this time.

-Because the camera was there?

-Yeah, and my mates were there.

-They seemed to be really enjoying it.

-Yeah.

They could have looked concerned rather than giggling all the time.

-Dad, a bit worrying that he keeps breaking his arm - four times, is it?

-Yeah.

Do you worry that there's a theme going on here?

I have had advice about it

and I think he's just been unlucky.

I do give him advice - "Bye, Sam. Don't do anything silly" - but...

Trust me, as a dad, good luck with that.

You've had the anaesthetic before and didn't like it and were keen not to.

How had it made you feel before?

Well, previous experiences, it's made me sick.

And also, I kind of like... zoned out.

I wasn't really in control.

-You didn't like that feeling so preferred not to... But I bet it felt easier once you did.

-Yeah.

What happened when they got you into hospital?

How bad was the break, did they say?

From the X-ray, you could clearly see both the bones were broken.

What did they do to get it back together?

-Did you have an op on it?

-Yeah, and they put some rods in.

-Wow.

You should have a bionic arm by the time it knits back together.

Can we have a look at your other arm, the one you broke last time?

Do you want to show us the scars? There you go on that side.

And then on the other side of it? Look at this.

-Scars are good, aren't they?

-Yeah.

-To show off.

-Impressive.

-Absolutely.

-And you missed out on your starring role.

-Oh, yeah.

-A bit cheesed off about that?

-Yeah.

It was a little Easter half-term course and...

-Yeah, Saturday Night Fever.

-You would have been brilliant.

-Yeah.

-They'll never know.

Guys, thank you very much for coming in and chatting to us.

The operators in this room are highly skilled

in dispatching the right response to any emergency that comes through.

But some of the operators here have extra special skills they can call on.

Like Caroline here, who is their resident horse whisperer.

-Hi, Caroline.

-Hi.

-So if anything equine comes in, they call on you?

-Yeah.

I've often had to give officers advice on how to catch horses.

If it's local to here, they can happily come in and get my kit.

This is what she has in her car, just randomly.

-A halter and a rope...

-Yeah, I have the halter and the rope.

Your boots as well. And this is my favourite bit.

-An enormous bag of carrots!

-My bag of carrots.

And actually, you have been called out to incidents, haven't you?

I was called out. There was a horse loose in Abingdon not so long ago.

There was a single-crewed officer who hadn't any experience with horses

and I was asked by the duty sergeant if I would go out and catch this horse.

-The horse owner couldn't help you?

-She was nine months pregnant and very overdue,

and the horse was a quarter of a mile away from its field

and there was no way she could walk him back down the main road.

He'd never been backed. He wasn't broken in.

He was really spooked by the traffic, scared of anything coming behind him.

-So she couldn't have walked him back.

-So you did it successfully.

How often do the carrots have to come out? And is it just horses?

It is just horses for me, yes.

The carrots don't come out that often.

On a few occasions they have.

And I've shown police officers how to put the halters on

-when they've gone out.

-So extremely useful.

-Absolutely.

I'm going to have one of those in a minute.

Rehearsed teamwork is vital for the survival of firefighters,

and that's what you're about to see.

Here 40 firefighters are about to battle a fire in a flat

before it brings down a whole street.

They're soon working in zero visibility

and heat so strong it's melting the doors and windows.

It's the early hours of the morning.

White Watch are in the city centre for a false alarm

when a real emergency comes through.

SIREN BLARES

It's a serious fire. Four crews are needed.

They arrive to find clouds of thick, black smoke

billowing out of a building at the end of a terrace.

But it's not until they venture down a side alley

that they find the flames.

Firefighters Keith Burton and Matt Broomby are first to go in.

It's an old pub, but they don't know what the first floor is used for

or whether there's anyone inside.

The only way in is via the fire escape to the first floor.

But the heat is so intense,

the plastic door has melted shut.

At the end of the staircase we found two doors,

one in front of us

and one which obviously led into that fire compartment.

When we attempted to get through,

we realised the door had fused to the plastic frame,

which slowed down our progress.

It took us probably about 15 minutes to make an entry.

Are you all right up there?

The fire is so fierce, the window is glowing brightly.

The cold air is pushing the smoke onto the ground,

making it difficult enough to see outside.

Conditions inside are far worse,

and they don't know if anyone is trapped.

As soon as we opened that door, we immediately felt the heat.

We were faced with a wall of fire.

It's a month since the pub closed down.

The fire is putting homes and businesses at risk.

They need to set up defences to protect the adjoining buildings.

If the flames get in the roof space, it could start

a potentially devastating spread through this city centre terrace.

It's beginning to look like the first floor may be someone's home.

The pressure is now on to make sure no one is inside.

Incident commander Shaun Cheeseman briefs crew manager Colin Burford.

OK, but bear in mind I think that might be a flat

and I'm not hauling out persons at the moment.

So if we do a white hand search when you go into the flat... Yeah?

We don't think anyone is in there, but obviously just to double-check.

The aerial ladder platform is in place,

but with crews inside, it's too dangerous to pour water in through the roof.

If they put too much water on a fire,

it will create a lot of steam.

Our fire kit protects us against fire

but steam can travel straight through and cause quite bad burns.

We've got to worry about it getting in the roof.

-Also, I want to make 100% sure they're doing a sweep and nobody's in there dead or something.

-Sure.

By now, it's four in the morning, the streets are deserted,

but such is the concern about the fire taking hold of the terrace,

the police have closed the roads.

There are 18 firefighters on the scene now

and six fire engines.

The fire has been so intense, the plastic windows have melted.

And there's a new danger. Matt and Keith have come out with a warning:

the floor is not safe.

Firefighters Adam and Dan have narrowly escaped falling through.

The fire is in between the floors at the moment,

so our foot's going through the floor, and it's fire below, so we've withdrawn.

I'm changing cylinders and then we're going to attack it from below

and extinguish the fire below us,

and then we'll get up in the roof and sort the roof out.

All the indications are that the building was empty and in the process of being renovated.

It's too unsafe for the crews to work inside

so they have to monitor any potential flare-ups from outside.

The flames may be out on the first floor.

The flat looks uninhabited.

But it's been spotted downstairs. The cellar could be next in its path.

With so many seats of fire, it's likely this was started deliberately.

They need to open up the shuttered front door as quickly as possible

to get some water onto the lower floors.

It's safe for Adam and Dan to go in.

It looks like they've got it all, but the work's not over.

The crews can now see for themselves

just how dangerous this fire could have been.

Later we'll see just how dangerous that environment was for the firemen.

Portsmouth has always been a bike-friendly city

since the workers at the naval shipyard needed to use pedal power to get to work.

There's a lot more cars on the road these days, so inevitably the two worlds collide,

as this police officer found out - not once, but twice in one night.

VOICES ON POLICE RADIO

PC Lisa Oliver and fellow officers are on their way

after calls came in about a cyclist's nasty collision with a car.

The incident happened at a busy junction in Portsmouth

and the early signs don't look good.

A buckled bike lies in the middle of the road,

a coat has been thrown over a pool of blood,

and the woman driving the car appears inconsolable.

Can I jump on and have a quick chat with him?

The injured cyclist is already in the ambulance, and Lisa goes to check on his condition.

Philip witnessed what happened.

The cyclist tried to beat the lights, I believe, and whacked into this car.

Went over the top and whacked his head on the floor.

He was out cold for a couple of minutes. It's not very nice.

Thankfully the man is now conscious and talking.

All accounts suggest he'd been riding erratically just before his accident.

A couple of witnesses saw him weaving in and out of traffic,

up and off the pavement, and he's got no lights on.

We're waiting to find out what's happened to him

and if he's going to hospital.

Fingers crossed he'll be OK.

All things considered, the man's had a lucky escape.

While he's taken to hospital, the police take his bike away for safekeeping.

But no sooner has the scene of one incident returned to normal...

SIREN BLARES

A call comes in saying that yet another cyclist

has come to grief just down the road.

We're going to a single vehicle versus a pedal cycle

at the junction with the roundabout.

This time the cyclist, David, is lying where he fell

and in obvious pain.

Fast response paramedic Sue McSheaffery has been treating him.

Let's see if we can mobilise his head for a sec

while I double-check that they've got someone running for me.

While Sue goes off to radio for extra help,

PC Phil Robertson takes over the head-holding duties.

-You all right there, mate?

-I'm freezing.

-Yeah?

Just tap your little right finger if you're all right.

Shouldn't be too much longer.

It's just an issue of safety, that's all.

Happens to the best of us, mate. I've been off my bike before.

Another ambulance crew arrive to help.

The damage to the car illustrates the heavy blow David has received.

He will definitely need to go to hospital.

He's worried his wife, at home with their child,

will be wondering where he's got to.

Did you want me to contact your wife?

What's her name?

Hello. Is that Sally?

I'm calling from Hampshire Roads Policing Unit. Please don't panic.

Your husband, David, has been involved in an accident.

He is conscious and breathing. He's being treated by the ambulance staff at the moment.

He's asked me to contact you and let you know.

It's a call that David's wife Sally won't forget in a hurry.

The minute they say it's the road traffic unit,

your blood runs cold and you know it's not going to be positive.

You almost stop listening because you know there's only one thing.

My daughter's safe in bed. It must be Dave.

And your heart is pounding and your mind is racing,

but then, all of a sudden, you just go into practical mode.

She's telling me I need to get to the hospital,

so that's what I need to do.

Please don't panic. Like I say, he is conscious and breathing and he's very responsive.

He remembered, obviously, your phone number so...

She was trying to reassure me.

It gives you that appreciation of what they do on a day-to-day basis.

You can imagine it's not easy for them to make that call to anyone.

David, I've spoken to Sally. She'll meet you at the hospital.

She's just getting someone to look after the little 'un. All right?

You're welcome.

The medical team cut away David's jacket

to prevent it restricting their movements.

They're about to start the delicate procedure

of trying to keep his neck rock steady

while they get him the right way round.

Probably glad to have his face off the road at least,

David can now be eased onto a spinal stretcher.

-Did you find his bike?

-Some people have taken it home.

-Wonderful.

One... two... three.

David will be taken to hospital for a full series of scans

to check for any serious injuries.

But Sue is optimistic about his chances.

He's not too bad, considering he's a cyclist been knocked off by a car.

Preliminaries, just minor injuries.

He's complaining of central neck pain,

so we've done everything we need to do just to be on the safe side.

He arrived here on two wheels, but David will leave on four,

which tonight certainly seems to be the safest mode of transport.

David had to have five weeks off work.

Now his helmet is tied to his bike so he won't forget it again.

Still to come, Eve's heading to A&E with a nasty gash on her leg,

but her sense of humour is still taking away the pain.

Eve, who's your next of kin? Who can I put down?

Oh, don't say that!

That makes it sound as if I'm going!

And the voice of calm -

the neighbour who comforts a man whose heart stops nine times.

How do you feel about snakes?

I'm not keen on them myself, nor are a lot of people.

So I want to talk to Emma here who has a snake-related story,

-if she's not on a call. Are you on a call?

-No.

-Jolly good.

-Tell us this snake-related story. Potentially very dangerous.

-Yeah, it can be.

We had a call quite late one night. I was the radio operator.

It came in saying a young family with very young children

had found a snake in their kitchen.

From their description - I've got a bit of knowledge of snakes.

-Have you?

-Only a little bit, from friends who have had quite a few.

From the description I recognised it could be an adder, our only poisonous snake.

Particularly with young children around, it could potentially be fatal.

Particularly due to the time of night and a young family around,

-I sent an officer round to get them some help.

-Who was nearest?

Our nearest officers were one of our armed response units,

so, as they were the nearest, they happily attended for us.

Initially they went in the kitchen, had a look from a distance just to be careful

and said, "Yes, it's a snake."

Went in for a closer look

and turned out it was actually a wooden snake,

one of the children's toys that the parents had forgotten about.

-So a happy ending.

-Absolutely, not having to shoot the wooden snake.

But it can happen very easily. Thank you for that story.

From a distance, how would you know?

And if there are kids, you've got to react.

There was a big story in the press recently where a stuffed tiger was left out in a field

and police had to react as if it was real until they could confirm it wasn't.

We're going to move on here... Hang on, there might be a call.

-Is Lorraine on a call?

-Er... just.

-I think she is.

We'll come back and have a chat with Lorraine in a moment. Louise?

All for one and one for all. That's what the Evesham card players live by.

Rallying around the injured Eve, there is no question about it,

this group of pensioners leaves no one behind.

Paramedic Steve Smith has been called to a hotel

after an elderly lady has injured her leg getting onto a minibus.

He's met by a very worried driver.

She's 80-odd, and we've got a three-hour trip back.

We've been down here for a week. We were just going home.

We saw blood on the floor and didn't know what it was, and it absolutely poured out of her.

OK. We'll go and take a look.

You stay there, ladies.

The casualty, Evelyn, is still on the bus.

Steve finds her sitting right at the back.

I see what you've done. How did you do it, Evelyn?

Getting onto the coach.

As I put my foot up, it slipped down

and I grazed it on the seat, I think.

-Have you hurt yourself anywhere else?

-No, no. That's it.

A quick look at Evelyn's war wound and Steve realises

she'll have to stay in Bournemouth a little longer than she'd bargained for.

I'll put a dressing on that, give you a bit of a once-over,

then arrange for you to go to hospital.

So how am I going to get home?

-Where have you come from?

-Worcestershire. Evesham.

-Well, these things happen, don't they?

-No. Not to me.

Well, they have today.

Evelyn has a large gouge in her shin.

Steve wants to cover it with an antibacterial bandage

until it can be looked at properly.

-How much pain are you in, Evelyn?

-It's all right.

I can just feel it, that's all.

What I'll do, I'll cover this up.

-No.

-HE CHUCKLES

So if they go home, what can I do?

-Have they got to come with me?

-No.

With an ambulance ordered for his reluctant patient,

Steve needs to get Eve out of the bus.

What do you need?

I know. Goodness!

Eve's party were just about to go home

after being down all week for a cards holiday,

playing the game whist.

Embarrassed about holding them up,

she's also not keen on the idea of going solo.

Better safe than sorry. You've got a three-hour journey.

If I'd have waited for somebody to give me a push up the back...

With more space to work in, Steve can check Eve's overall health.

Eve, can I have a listen to your chest?

EVELYN GUFFAWS

-WOMAN:

-We're not having that!

Stop smiling. You breathe in and out is normal, Eve. Go on.

-Super. Just underneath your arm.

-CAR ALARM

The regular repeating alarm of a nearby car

is doing nothing for Eve's blood pressure either.

Home seems a long way away.

And squeeze that for me.

You promise?

What do we do with your onward travel?

We don't want to leave you stranded, do we?

Hopefully you'll only be in for a couple of hours, get your leg looked at.

We know there's nothing else more sinister going on.

We know why you've fallen. You just tripped.

There's not a case that you've hit your head or anything. OK?

After consulting the other passengers,

Steve, the bus driver, has offered to stay and wait for her.

So we can leave your bags packed. You haven't got to unload anything.

Everything's safe.

With the arrival of the other ambulance crew,

Steve helps Eve on, before helping her friends off the minibus.

They're getting off. Are you staying on or getting off?

-Getting off!

-Right, come on, then, girls.

Of course you can, my love.

I'm fed up with it now.

Eve, who's your next of kin? Who can I put down?

Oh, don't say that!

It's only for our paperwork.

That makes it sound as if I'm going!

Eve is whisked off to Bournemouth Hospital.

Grounded, the whist drive decide to make light of the situation.

I've got some shortbread. Do you want some shortbread, love?

At the A&E Department,

Eve's leg injury has been thoroughly examined, cleaned and bandaged.

She's certainly had better days on the coast.

I have good memories of Bournemouth

because I spent my honeymoon here.

Have they operated on you? Had your leg off?

Steve's here to pick her up as he's been told she can go home.

And it's a car park reunion with her friends

before attempt number two to get Eve safely on the bus.

Take your time. Watch you don't trip over that bloody step.

I needed pushing up. Thanks a lot. Thank you.

-I'll wait till you're sat down first.

-THEY CHUCKLE

I'm so sorry. I do apologise.

-It's nobody's fault.

-I can't imagine anything so stupid.

-Don't worry.

-That's all going to be on television now.

THEY LAUGH

Finally, it's all come up trumps

and the whist drive can get back on the road.

That's what friends are for.

It was a very bad gash, but Eve is slowly getting better.

Lorraine has stopped the call that she was on.

-Are we all right to chat now?

-Yeah.

-Lorraine often receives calls from children,

but a recent call didn't turn out exactly as you expected, did it?

No. We had a call come in from a child that said he had been robbed,

somebody had stolen his football, some older boys had taken it from him.

But what concerned us the most was he said he was on his own with his brother and their mum wasn't home.

So we were concerned for his welfare.

Also, you wouldn't send someone out for just a stolen football,

but because they were vulnerable, you did send someone out.

That's right. We sent somebody out to look for them.

They'd phoned it in from a telephone box. When we got there, they weren't actually there.

But he had given us his address, so we sent the police unit to his address,

where he spoke to the boy's mum, and things turned out to be slightly different.

What happened then?

It turned out that they'd been to the park to play with friends

and there were some adults there taking care of them,

and the young boy had scored a goal which had been disallowed.

He was quite upset that his friends hadn't allowed his goal.

So he stropped off to go home, leaving his ball behind.

-It wasn't the first ball he'd lost.

-No, he'd lost lots.

-He was frightened his mum would get upset.

-Yes.

Boy, did he get into trouble with his mum that time!

-Louise?

-Yes, I bet he did!

This is Ray, who we'll talk to in a minute.

It's very unusual for Ray to take an afternoon nap.

So when his wife Brenda couldn't wake him up, she ran next door for help.

We're about to hear the emergency call made by their neighbour, Tony,

a call that saved Ray's life.

The call handler quickly phones Tony on his mobile,

while he heads back next door.

She needs Tony's help to find out exactly what is wrong.

And here is super-calm Tony, the neighbour we'd all like to have.

We'll hear from Ray and Tony in a moment, but first, here's the rest of that call.

And she finally lets you go because Keri, student paramedic, arrived.

It wouldn't feel complete if you weren't here as well.

Ray, let's talk to you first of all.

While this was going on, you thought you were fine, didn't you?

Yes. I knew nothing about this incident

until I woke up in intensive care,

and I was taken out of intensive care three days later.

Tony, extraordinary things going on there.

You were having two conversations -

one with the paramedic, telling her it was serious, one with him saying that he's sort of OK.

Yes. This was a bizarre situation.

One minute Ray was not conscious

and the pulse was very weak and erratic,

the next minute he said he was all right, wanted to get off the chair,

so I had to try and stop him going back out the garden

and talk to ambulance control as well, who were very helpful.

And was he doing as he was told?

Er... no. That wouldn't be Ray at all if he did as he was told.

But, I mean, to look at the situation as it was,

obviously he didn't really know what he was doing.

So, Keri, you arrived and it was plainly a serious situation.

I understand his heart had been stopping and was continuing to stop.

Yeah. When we arrived, I arrived with a double paramedic crew.

Like you say, Ray was just sitting in the chair looking as well, just a bit grey,

talking to me, answering all my questions.

Then, of course, he arrested in front of us...

And it kept happening, what, five times?

Yeah, five times in all we shocked Ray back to life,

and after each shock he came back, talking to us

and shoved in our wrist to remove the oxygen mask,

wanted to know what was happening to his chest, until...

Well, it's about a 30-mile journey to the nearest hospital,

so in that time it took five shocks to keep him alive, basically.

-We've added it all up and it was nine all together.

-Yeah.

-Can you believe that?

-No.

-Your heart stopped nine times.

No, I didn't learn that until I was in coronary care after I'd come from intensive care,

when they said I'd been very poorly.

I just couldn't believe it.

-And, honestly, when you were having that phone call, did you think he was going to make it?

-No.

Truthfully, no, because the condition that he was in

and with the heartbeat and the agitation,

I honestly thought he wasn't going to make it.

You were incredibly calm throughout.

Ray, has it changed you? I understand you've made a few lifestyle changes.

Yes. It means keeping to a strict diet,

no nice things like cream, blue-top milk, butter...

no apple pies...

-It's serious. It really is.

-SHE LAUGHS

Are you losing weight, then?

Yes, I have got a bit of my weight down,

but I'm also taking a lot of exercise,

I'm going to cardiac rehabilitation at Narberth

and I'm listening to all what they're telling me.

-And the deep-fat fryer? It was meant to be thrown out but I don't think it has been.

-It hasn't yet,

but it might end up being thrown away.

Do you believe that?

Erm, I believe that the fat fryer might,

-but as far as Ray listening to people's concerns...

-HE SUCKS HIS TEETH

-No way?

-Ooh, I don't know.

And the odd tipple? Will you have a tipple, at least the two of you now?

Yeah. I don't drink much, so it's just an occasional drink.

That's all.

-It's about time you went out for a drink together.

-Yes, and it's on Ray.

-I think you're right. Thank you so much. Lovely to see you all.

-My pleasure.

It's fascinating watching people work here and the calls that come in.

Tony had a voice like Richard Burton, didn't he?

Moving on, firefighters have finally stopped a blaze in a pub from destroying a whole street,

fighting it back room by room.

Now the smoke has finally cleared, they can see the danger they were actually in.

The firefighters are making their final checks from outside

before crews are sent in to make the area safe for the investigators.

The fire has wrecked the front half of the upstairs.

Little remains of the area where the fire started.

Through this entrance was a free development compartment,

so there was no walking around trying to find the seat of the fire.

It was just a case of fighting back flames from that entrance

until we could beat back the whole compartment.

As soon as we'd done that, the second teams came to back us up

and continued to ensure that didn't re-ignite

as we made our way through to continue the search through this door

into what revealed itself to be a set of flats

and a set of stairs going down to the ground floor in the bar area.

The crews are using a thermal imaging camera

to check for any hotspots.

Over here as well.

They need to be dampened down immediately to stop the fire starting up again.

The narrow labyrinthine layout can now be seen properly.

Filled with smoke and flames, it was extremely difficult to negotiate.

The fire had been raging a long time.

Only the closed doors stopped it spreading further.

The smoke marks on the other side

show the extent of the build-up of the dangerous gases.

If we open the door with the heat barrier being so low down...

If we open it from that side,

where we think it's inconspicuous and nothing's happening,

we open a compartment with the heat barrier way down at floor level

and we can potentially walk in and have that come straight at us at head height.

It would be super-heated.

That's why we say to people, check the back of the handle with the back of your hand.

Because if you had that bar transmitting all that heat through to the other side,

if somebody was to check that with their hand,

they would burn their hand quite severely.

The pub and flat were in the process of being renovated.

The investigators need to move in now to fully investigate how it started,

but not before the area is made completely safe.

I'm setting up some lighting

so other operatives can work in the area and see all the hazards.

After three hours on the scene, the crews can finally leave.

The fire is now a matter for the police.

A huge combined job for four fire stations there,

and the local CID are still investigating it.

-Lovely to meet Tony.

-Lovely. I love those Welsh voices.

-More real rescues next time.

-See you then.

-Bye-bye.

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