Episode 9 Living Dangerously

The British weather is a constant topic of conversation.

Often unpredictable, it's now having an even bigger effect on our lives.

Dangerous floods threaten our homes, forest fires devastate our countryside,

and savage storms ravage our coastlines.

Today, we find out what happens to Britain when freak weather strikes.

We see the stories of people's lives that have been turned upside down by the totally unexpected.

And we show you how to protect yourself, your home and your family from disaster.

Welcome to Living Dangerously.

We've all seen reports of the destruction

that extreme weather can cause but what about the personal cost?

Today we hear two incredible true stories.

Coming up on Living Dangerously...

a lethal mix of searing temperatures and high winds combine

to fan a life-threatening forest fire in Dorset.

It got to the point where I could hear and see it and I knew that it had got bigger and closer.

That's when I started to panic.

And when Britain is hit by an Arctic cold snap, it's a race against time

to save people stranded in huge snowdrifts on the Yorkshire Dales.

All I could think in my head - "I just don't want to die out here in the snow."

With home video, actual footage and reconstruction,

we show what happened during these real-life weather events.

In the heart of England's beautiful southern county of Dorset lies Verwood Forest,

an ancient man-made heath land covering 7,000 hectares

that's also home to a number of protected trees and wildlife.

It's a stunningly beautiful area but one very prone to woodland fires.

The sandy soil encourages plants such as heather and gorse and, in the summer,

high temperatures turn this already dry vegetation into kindling,

meaning a tiny spark is all that's needed to start a blaze.

However, these small fires are usually easy to put out and have no major impact

on the 14,000 residents of Verwood, a town that borders the forest.

One resident, 24-year-old Hannah Green, lives in her family home

in Coopers Lane, a picturesque spot less than 30 metres from the edge of the heath land.

The area's really nice.

It's quite a quiet little village,

it's quite a family-orientated little village,

a lovely place to grow up or retire to.

I know a lot of friends of mine,

they go away and come back again so, no, it's lovely.

But this tranquil spot was to be turned upside down on April 17th 2003 when,

during an unusually dry spell,

high-speed winds whipped a smouldering woodland fire into a frenzied blaze

that tore through the heath and threatened to engulf nearby houses.

I've come round to see Hannah

to find out how Britain's extreme weather nearly cost her her life.

-Hi, Hannah?

-Hiya.

-Nadia. Can I come in?

-Yeah, come in.

Oh, lovely. So, Hannah, tell me about the morning. Perfectly normal morning, ordinary morning?

Yeah, absolutely. I was looking after my cousin's children.

Perfectly normal. She dropped them off in the morning.

I had them every holiday. Then we sat down to lunch, they were watching telly, everything was normal.

That month had seen the highest UK April temperature since 1949

and many areas had received only half their normal rainfall.

Southerly winds were continuing to bring the high temperatures inland and, that day,

the weather forecast for Dorset was for another scorching day with low humidity -

the perfect weather for fires.

At 11:30am, from her garden, Hannah spotted some smoke high up

on the wooded hill-top, several hundred metres from her house.

However, wildfires are so common in this area,

she and her family thought nothing of it.

My mum, she had a hair appointment.

As she was leaving, she said, "Just ring the fire brigade and they'll come."

Again, it's a normal thing to happen, to have a fire up in the forest. It wasn't an unusual event.

So Hannah put the call in and the fire brigade were scrambled.

Fifteen minutes later, she spotted flames high on the hillside,

and the unmistakeable sound of burning trees was carried to her on the wind.

As I kept checking outside, the bigger it got.

I thought, "They'll be here in a minute,"

and then it only got to the point where I could hear it

and see it and I knew that it had got bigger and closer - that's when I started to panic.

And what did you do when that panic first set in?

Phoned the fire brigade again and said, "Has anybody arrived yet?

"I can't hear the sirens."

And they said, "No, no, a unit has been despatched."

OK, fine. They said, "Just don't panic, it'll be OK."

Again, perfectly normal.

By now, firefighters had reached the blaze and years of experience

dealing with wild fires meant they felt well-equipped

to deal with whatever was thrown at them.

Not a problem - a normal heath fire.

Something we do every day, wasn't a problem.

We deployed our fire-fighting equipment,

our two hose-reel jets off the back of our main appliance.

We were in this ditch, which has a slightly banked-up unmade track.

What we try and do is then initially knock the fire down and then put it out.

Although the recent heat wave had created the perfect conditions

for the fire to spread, up till now, the relatively weak breeze had kept the flames small.

Shortly after midday, however, the weather suddenly struck an unforeseen and devastating blow.

The wind changed direction and increased in intensity

and it was just like somebody had poured petrol all over that heath

and the flames had gone from three to four feet high

to 15-16 feet high, moving directly towards us.

The hot, dry weather had provided fuel for the flames

and now a south-westerly breeze blowing at 27mph was fanning them.

We literally laid down in that ditch.

The fire came straight up over the top of us, jumped over us,

and went into the heath land the other side.

The fire leapt from treetop to treetop,

up a ravine, across a ridge, and swept down towards Coopers Lane and Hannah's family home.

And then it went straight on towards the house which, um...

There's about six houses at the very top of that track and it threatened that property.

I was feeling terrified.

I was feeling that, you know, completely out of control.

The fire brigade weren't here, although we'd called them

what seemed like 1,000 times and my mum wasn't here. I had the children and the dogs

and a lot obviously to take on board.

It was 12:45pm. Despite firefighters' efforts,

in just over an hour, 16-foot flames had been pushed by wind across the heath land

and were halfway across a field,

just 50 metres from Hannah's house.

Hannah decided she had to act fast if she was to save herself and her two young cousins so,

urging them to follow her, she led them to the safest place she could think of -

at the bottom of the garden.

Once I'd discovered that it was becoming more intense, I decided to get out of the house.

It wasn't an issue for me because we didn't know how far it was going to come,

if it was going to catch the house on fire and we couldn't stay there.

The furthest point where the children could be confined was the greenhouse, so I decided to take them down there.

I knew it was far enough that it couldn't catch fire.

But Hannah's decision to seek refuge in the greenhouse was extremely dangerous.

The structure would not provide any protection from the flames

and the glass could shatter with the heat.

So how does a girl of 18, what you were at the time,

looking after two children, young children,

how did you protect yourselves?

Just instinct, really. It kicks in, I suppose, when you least expect it and you do go into autopilot.

As I say, I took the children out.

I knew they were the priority, then the next priority was the dogs.

The next priority was the other animals outside and...

And at this point, were you in phone contact with your family?

I phoned her and said that it's got too close

and I think she thought I was being a bit over-dramatic at the time because it had never happened before.

It only became apparent when there was another big whoosh

and a crash, and I screamed at her, "You've got to come home!"

By 1pm, the fire reached a hedge at the bottom of a neighbour's field,

just 25 metres away from Hannah's house.

By this stage, the wind had increased to a brisk 29mph,

taking the heat of the fire to a temperature of around 1,000 degrees centigrade.

In 18 years of service, I've never seen a more intense fire than that.

We've had larger heath fires.

We get a lot of heath fires in Verwood and in Dorset

but in terms of ferocity, intensity, it's the most intense fire.

The fire was spreading rapidly and not just over ground but underground too.

Bone-dry tree roots and compost were conducting the fire through earth,

causing occasional flames to sprout out of the ground several metres ahead of the main blaze.

By just after 1pm, the fire was 20 metres from Hannah's house

and the air was thick with smoke.

Firefighters had to modify their approach

if they were to save the residents' lives.

We'd stopped now offensive fire-fighting operations and we're into persons reported,

which means there's people in immediate danger

and we have to start our evacuation procedure.

So we went along those houses, systematically along the houses, starting to evacuate them.

As the firemen worked their way up Coopers Lane house by house,

Hannah and her two cousins cowered in a greenhouse,

listening to the crackling of the approaching fire,

praying somebody would hear their cries

and save them from the flames getting closer and closer.

And then I thought, all I can do is start screaming. That's what I did.

"Help me, help me! I'm here on my own, the children are here!"

What else can I do? What else can I possibly do?

Coming up later on Living Dangerously...

Hannah's life hangs in the balance

as emergency services struggle to reach her through the smoke.

I was screaming and screaming. He didn't think it was human, I was screaming that hard.

They thought there was a horse!

High up in one of the most remote parts of the Yorkshire Dales,

the Tan Hill Inn is something of a local treasure.

Set on the northern edge of the Dales at the border with Cumbria,

it's 1,732 feet above sea level

and officially the highest pub in Britain.

The inn dates from the 17th century, when the area was mined for coal.

Since then, it's been a haven for ramblers walking the Pennine Way.

Landlords Tracy Daly and Mike Peace

bought the remotely located pub in 2005.

It's a destination. People come specifically to Tan Hill.

Not many kind of fall in. "Oh, we were just passing!"

It's such a long way from, kind of, anywhere.

The atmosphere at Tan Hill - it changes every day.

It's very, very unique in every way.

Britain's weather is unpredictable at the best of times

but up here there are no half measures.

You can have beautiful sunshine and there you can see all over Cumbria,

the clouds are down below you and it's kind of... It's quite surreal.

Extremes of weather can be in the summer,

where you get heat exhaustion.

The other extreme is winter conditions,

when you can have 50mph winds,

occasionally snow, sleet, rain.

It varies tremendously.

Given the erratic weather conditions around Tan Hill,

Tracy drives something a little more rugged than the average saloon car.

We bought the vehicle primarily, I think, for the weather.

My old man knows that I have to go out when I want to go out.

This type of all-terrain vehicle is used by armies across the world.

Its caterpillar tracks and powerful engine have been specifically designed to deal with heavy snow.

It's straightforward like a car, an automatic car,

except it goes in water, it goes on seven-foot snow drifts, everything.

But there was weather coming that would challenge even the all-terrain vehicle's abilities.

On the 1st of February 2009, the UK was hit by a crippling cold snap.

Temperatures plunged to -4C in places

and heavy snow fell on the ground,

the likes of which hadn't been seen for nearly 20 years.

Essential services were paralysed, buses and trains cancelled,

and airports, major roads and over 4,500 schools were closed across the country.

In parts of the Yorkshire Dales, 20cm of snow fell in 24 hours

and with strong winds of 40mph, the snow was whipped up

to create drifts reaching as high as five feet.

Services here were also stopped in their tracks,

as schools were closed and people in the Dales found themselves sealed off from the world.

We had snow up to armpit,

so I would say about five foot high,

in the car park.

Often one of the problems is not the volume of snow that falls.

It's the strong winds that blow the snow and trap vehicles in roads,

or people not prepared for it.

One man who got too close to this for comfort is Peter Richardson,

known to everyone as Richie,

one of the barmen and regulars at the Tan Hill.

He'd been caught out by the heavy snowfall and had spent the night

at a friend's house nine miles from the pub where he was living.

Richie has a kidney condition that requires daily medication

but he'd left it in his room in the pub

and the next morning he decided to brave the freezing temperatures and thick snow to retrieve it.

I wouldn't have made that journey if I didn't have to

but I had to get back to Tan Hill to get this medication.

I got about halfway up here

and a local farmer stopped me and he asked me where I was going.

I said, "Tan Hill."

And basically he said to me, "I've been doing this 40 years.

"If you carry on, you'll probably die,"

That sent alarm bells ringing. So I jumped in his tractor.

We went back to where we'd set off from - South Stainmore.

But the following morning, Richie was getting desperate.

He'd gone two days without his medication,

which meant his blood pressure was falling.

So, with a break in the snowfall,

he decided once again to step out in the still Arctic temperatures

and chance the nine-mile walk to Tan Hill.

The day in question, I decided, because the sun was shining,

I was going to set off that morning.

Richie headed out at midday

but after trudging in the snow for two hours,

the bright blue skies disappeared and the weather started to close in.

Initially, although the snow was bad,

I wasn't that worried and I was quite confident

I could actually make it to Tan Hill...foolishly.

However, after a couple of miles,

it's all uphill and the road was just complete black ice,

and I was just stumbling, and I was really worried.

I couldn't make it to the top of the hill. It was so exhausting.

Richie's exhaustion was compounded by the 40mph winds

and the Siberian temperatures that had dipped to -3 degrees.

He was never going to make it home to Tan Hill on his own, so he called Tracy for help.

At one point, she said to me, "Just turn back. Please don't carry on."

She sounded quite frantic but I thought, I'm as close to her as I am going back,

so I thought I might as well carry on.

Knowing the condition that Richie was in and the weather, cos it was still blowing a gale,

and it was still probably 40mph winds in a snow blizzard.

That's quite invisible, you know.

I thought, "He's not going to make it. Let's go in the Hagland."

And off I went.

Just before 2pm, Tracy jumped into the all-terrain vehicle

with Ellie, the pub chambermaid, and Sherbet the dog.

Tracy decided to travel down the main road, in the direction she thought Richie would be approaching

but the road was virtually indistinguishable from the fields.

Snow drifts reaching as high as five feet had piled up against the dry-stone walls lining the lane

and, as the all-terrain vehicle battled through the snow drifts

and strong winds, disaster struck.

Bombing along, it conked out about six miles from Tan Hill.

I started it again, the vehicle, and it went along for about another three or four hundred yards.

And it conked out again and this time it conked out for good.

There was a blockage from the reserve tank of petrol,

so fuel wasn't getting to the engine.

Ellie captured the marooned vehicle on her mobile phone.

I think it stalled once

but we managed to get it going and then we moved.

It wasn't really that far before it actually broke down properly.

All I knew is that we weren't going anywhere.

We were halfway up a snow drift and halfway coming down another,

so the vehicle was stuck at some really weird angle.

You get that sort of nervous twitch and I'm thinking,

oh, no, this ain't for real.

What was worse, Richie, just a mile away,

had become lost in the blinding snow.

With howling winds and dropping temperatures,

he was in real danger of exposure and hypothermia.

And, without his medication, his blood pressure had fallen

and he was beginning to feel light-headed and nauseous.

Coming up on Living Dangerously...

Time ticks away as the Arctic temperatures continue to plummet.

All I could think in my head - I don't want to die in the snow.

And with the high drifts of thick snow,

it's a challenge for Mountain Rescue to find the stranded party.

In April 2003, the small Dorset town of Verwood

fell victim to one of the most terrifying wild fires in decades.

7,000 hectares of heath land bordering the town

had been dried out by weeks of unseasonably hot weather.

A stray spark set the woods alight

and unusually high winds had fanned the flames,

turning a simple heath fire into a relentless inferno.

Firemen had been unable to contain the blaze

and now it had reached the houses on nearby Coopers Lane.

One of the residents was Hannah Green, who'd been left at home with her two young cousins.

With the flames bearing down on her property, she shepherded the children and her dog

to the greenhouse in the garden in the belief it would keep them safe.

I knew it was far away and metal and glass couldn't catch fire.

So I took them down there.

But shortly after 1pm, the 29mph winds had carried the blaze

to within just 20 metres of Hannah's house.

Firefighters were still trying to evacuate the lane but with no sign of them as yet,

Hannah dashed out of the greenhouse and tried to fight the fire herself.

I can recall trying to unwinch the hose but there was no water.

What was that moment like? Oh, that sent chills down my spine -

the thought that you go to the tap, the hose, and there's no water.

There's nothing. Again, the only thing I could just tell myself was that they must be using it.

That's why we've got no water. But I don't know what I was going to do without water,

you know, or what I was going to do with our little garden hose.

Realising this was a futile effort, Hannah ran back into the greenhouse.

With the flames getting ever closer,

she started shouting in the hope the fire brigade would find her.

I was screaming and screaming, "Help me, help me! Children are here. Help me."

Thankfully, to her relief, Hannah's cries were finally picked out by the rescue team.

The fire engines switched off their engines to hear where we were

in relation to where they were and I could hear the firemen shouting

and me screaming and that's when they pinpointed where we were

and reinforcements came in.

I saw this fireman coming through the hedge.

That's how he heard me and he didn't actually think it was a human, I was screaming that hard.

They thought it was a horse!

By now, Hannah's mum had arrived back from town

and was trying to force through the smoke in search of her family.

Intercepted by firemen, she was brought to the greenhouse

and reunited with Hannah and the children.

What was going on for you at that point, when your mum got back?

Just relief that she was here but again, it was then somebody else

that needed to be informed of what was going on.

She wanted to know where the children were, um...

I mean, it then started.

That's really when the whole drama really began.

The weather dealt another blow to the rescue effort.

The wind speed increased to 34mph, fanning the flames even more.

The smoke and heat were becoming overwhelming.

When we initially called for assistance along that track

to get those last few people from the top property out,

we put in an assistance message for some support.

There was a BA team - that's breathing apparatus -

who were trying to make their way towards us.

Those three firefighters went to hospital suffering heat exhaustion.

It was that hot, that intense that team couldn't get through to us,

so it gives you some idea of just how intense that fire was.

The other houses along Coopers Lane had been evacuated

but now both ends were ravaged by the fire,

cutting off the escape route for Hannah and her loved ones.

There was nowhere for us to go.

We had to either stay where we were or we had to get out somewhere

and the only access in is the road, which was on fire.

So firefighters changed tactics again and gathered Hannah,

her mum and the kids together in the nearest open space

not yet reached by the inferno.

We had to make a decision and that decision was to evacuate them

into the paddock, which was away from the danger initially.

As soon as we did that, we put a request in for some assistance,

for some air support, so we could evacuate people from that paddock.

The air ambulance and police helicopters came to do that for us.

As firefighters continued to battle the blaze,

Hannah and her loved ones waited for the helicopters.

Then, at 2pm, the first air ambulance arrived

and the rescuers on board could see the terrifying scale of the fire,

which had now spread across five hectares.

From the air, approaching the scene,

you could see smoke from a good 10-12 miles away.

Couldn't see any flame at the time but the cloud into the sky

was thick, dense smoke,

probably a good mile high, spreading out over quite a large area.

The wind was still travelling at 34mph,

fanning the fire and making visibility an issue for the pilots.

A short time after lifting off and searching the designated area,

we located some people who appeared to be trapped by the smoke and flame.

In turn, we did a recce of the site to find where it was safe to land.

Landed as close as possible, under the circumstances,

bearing in mind the smoke and flame.

But as emergency services prepared to airlift Hannah and her family

out of the paddock and away from the fire,

another problem presented itself.

Hannah's dogs had no leads and could be a liability

if put into a helicopter untethered

but she wasn't prepared to leave them behind.

We didn't think they'd take dogs.

So we had a fairly robust discussion about, "We'll take the dogs, you go in the helicopter."

Fortunately, she won and she went in the helicopter along with both the dogs, so they were evacuated.

We had to fashion leads because we obviously hadn't picked up leads

and they weren't allowed on the helicopter without leads,

so we took our belts off and put them round their necks

and they jumped into the helicopter.

Now, finally, the family could be flown to safety -

Hannah and her cousins in one chopper -

Mum and the dogs in another.

While everyone was now safe,

the fire was inching its way towards their house in Coopers Lane.

What was the atmosphere like between you all, then?

It was frantic, it was very emotional, you know,

being separated in that situation.

You just want to all be together. I didn't know if it was going to spread.

My mum was getting a bit panicked and then we saw this black plume of smoke from the corner of my bedroom.

We thought, that's it. It's gone into the roof. We heard popping.

We thought that was it.

Coming up on Living Dangerously...

Hannah and her family have escaped the inferno's clutches but will the family home be as lucky?

All we could see was black smoke behind the house.

It kept coming up over the house.

My mum thought, well, that's it now.

We can't do anything about it. That's it, it's gone.

During a severe cold snap in February 2009,

the North Yorkshire Dales were covered in 20cm of snow.

Strong winds created drifts of up to five feet that blocked lanes,

while temperatures dipped to -4C.

Peter "Richie" Richardson, barman at the isolated Tan Hill Inn,

had decided to brave the extreme weather

to retrieve medication for his kidney condition

which he'd left in his room at the pub.

But he'd become stranded in the thick snow and freezing temperatures and was waiting for help.

All I could think in my head - I don't want to die in the snow.

But, disastrously, his rescuer Tracy Daly, landlady of Tan Hill,

who had come to his aid in her all-terrain vehicle

with her chambermaid Ellie and dog Sherbet, had broken down in a deep snow drift

and they too were now stranded.

We had snow up to armpit, so I'd say about five foot high.

With Tracy unable to go any further,

the situation was looking increasingly bleak for Richie,

who was not only lost in Arctic conditions

but was feeling light-headed and nauseous without his medication.

But with their surroundings completely masked by snow,

Tracy and Ellie had lost their bearings,

so Ellie climbed out of the all-terrain vehicle

and stood on a wall to try and work out their position

and this move was to prove fateful for Richie,

who'd been trudging through thick snow for two hours now

and was beginning to give up hope.

Fortunately, the two parties were closer than they'd thought.

Eventually, I saw Ellie just standing there

and when I saw her, I was just actually overcome.

I felt like bursting out crying.

A million different emotions but I was glad to see her

and I was glad I could see the snowmobile in the distance as well.

But that was the beginning of it, really, getting to that point.

Now reunited with his colleagues,

Richie tried to restart the all-terrain vehicle.

By chance, some petrol had filtered through, as he got it going,

but after driving for a few minutes, the engine cut out again and became stuck once more.

I just thought, this is unreal. I've come this far,

I've managed to get to the snowmobile

and then we've broken down.

You know, I just felt I'd been took up there

and then just dropped down again.

They were now completely stranded,

six miles from the Tan Hill Inn

and surrounded by seven-foot high snow drifts.

A broken-down engine meant a broken-down heater

and with it being -4C outside the vehicle,

the temperature in the cabin had started to plummet.

They needed help desperately.

I phoned 999 and I had a very limited battery life

and I said, "Look, I'm stuck.

"Tell me what to do - stay in my vehicle, walk or what?"

They were told to stay put in the vehicle while help was scrambled.

The call was passed to the Mountain Rescue Team 12 miles away at Kirkby Stephen

but the poor visibility and blanket snow

meant Tracy had been unable to give their exact location.

They were in a vehicle with no heating

and they'd be rapidly cooling off,

so the sooner we got there, the safer they're going to be.

We knew they'd left the Tan Hill and hadn't arrived at the village.

So we cut it down to a fairly small area,

so probably a distance of about half a mile.

Also, we didn't know how far we'd have to dig in

cos we might have taken hours to actually get to them.

By now it was three o'clock. There was just an hour left of daylight.

Temperatures were continuing to fall and Richie was gravely in need of his medication.

The pressure was on for Mountain Rescue to get to them as soon as possible.

It's not pleasant feeling cold and isolated.

All your bodily functions start to slow down.

But it wasn't just Ellie, Tracy and Richie who were feeling the cold.

The poor dog, she was cold. We'd brought some tea towels with us.

I wrapped the dog in them and she was whingeing and howling

and wasn't making the situation any better.

Four miles from the nearest town,

Tracy, Ellie and Richie were completely cut off.

As the minutes ticked away and they waited for help,

the feelings of isolation increased.

Well, we knew they were on their way

but we had no contact with them cos all our phones had died

and we were all sat there thinking, what do we do if it gets dark?

Meanwhile, Mountain Rescue volunteer Gordon

was heading along the main road into the Dales

but even he had underestimated the depth of the snow

which had backed up against the dry-stone walls lining the route,

blocking them completely.

We were only able to go about half a mile or so

and then we suddenly realised the roads were...

well, just deep in snow drifts, and there's no way to batter your way through or drive through them.

It was probably three, four feet,

but in places running up to about seven or eight feet.

But while Mountain Rescue struggled to get to the isolated party,

the Arctic freeze was taking its toll.

My feet started to get cold.

Cos my feet were frozen, I had to end up sticking my feet up Ellie's jumper to keep warm.

We were all trying to keep each other warm and smile through it.

We're in a really isolated spot.

We are in a perilous position

and, you know, we desperately need someone to come and get us.

While they all huddled together in the vehicle's cabin to keep warm,

Mountain Rescue began to make headway.

We found here was a farm, so we opened the farm gates

and managed to drive through on their land.

The winds were about 50mph winds so, on the flatter ground,

the snow had blown straight off it.

So we could actually drive across the fields to the farm.

Finally, they got to the road they thought the vehicle was stranded on

but, at this point, the snow drifts had become too high

and this time there was no way around it,

other than to attempt it on foot.

So the rest was shovelling through,

or stamping down with our feet,

and just slowly progress.

By now it was 4:15pm.

Tracy, Richie, Ellie and Sherbet the dog

had been stranded for two hours in the vehicle.

The light was beginning to fade and it would be dark in half an hour,

when temperatures would drop.

All four of them were at real risk of succumbing to hypothermia.

Suddenly, Tracy noticed some movement outside.

We just saw these little bobbled heads bobbing up and down

and they were walking alongside the other side of the wall.

It was a relief.

It was a big relief.

At the vehicle, the first thing to do was check out the casualties.

We knew one had a medical problem - he had to get his medication.

Having ascertained how cold they were,

the main thing was to warm them up before we could walk them out.

We carried extra clothing - hats and gloves and jackets and things -

just to make sure people were warm.

The dog actually had hypothermia, so it was shivering badly.

The stranded party were walked back through the path cut by the Mountain Rescue team.

One of the Mountain Rescue guys had a big rucksack and they put Sherbet in it.

When we got there, we got into the Land Rover and it was just like...

Even though you were still cold, it was just, oh, thank God you're safe

and you're getting somewhere where there'll be warmth.

They were taken to the Mountain Rescue base in Kirkby Stephen,

where they were able to recover.

It was dark by the time we got to Kirkby Stephen which was, to be fair,

a real relief cos I could get on the phone then and speak to my old man and tell him I was safe.

Once we got there, we all got out and got into the centre

and they all got cups of tea on the go.

Thank God, keeping warm!

Richie was finally given the medication he needed so urgently for his kidney ailment

and, after being checked over, his condition had stabilised.

And while the whole experience had been a nightmare for Richie,

some good did come out of it.

As an event that happened in my life, which was quite perilous,

it brought me together with Tracy and little Ellie and,

luckily for us, we got rescued,

but it was a dangerous situation.

The heavy snows that hit Britain and the North Yorkshire Dales in February 2009 were exceptional

but it does happen and when the country's paralysed by this extreme weather, what can you do?

There are some simple ways of making sure you're prepared.

When we travel around during winter

and go over the mountain roads, we always carry a spade

and we take survival equipment with us.

We will have a sleeping bag in the back of the car, ideally a flask of tea or coffee,

Kendal mint cake to give you energy,

spare blankets - you need to keep warm.

If you do get stuck, you could be stuck for quite a long time.

The safest thing would be to get out of the vehicles and dig into the snow

and make a snow hole and hide inside the snow hole.

Your body temperature will keep that warm.

The vehicle, the metal, will always be very, very cold and so you'll get colder inside it.

A couple of days after the dramatic rescue,

Tracy was reunited with her beloved all-terrain vehicle.

The garage came out two days later.

He tweaked about with it and there was a gauze that was all blocked up.

We started the vehicle straight away with the fuel that was in it, so...

So, while Tracy's snow vehicle gets to live another day,

with Britain's extreme weather being what it is,

it's probably a question of when, not if, it'll be needed to negotiate huge drifts of snow again.

In 2003, high winds turned a small Dorset woodland fire

into a towering inferno within metres of Hannah Green's home.

This was a natural disaster without precedent in this part of the country,

even making the national news.

Firefighters across the country are tackling blazes

which are destroying forestry land and killing wildlife.

In Dorset, 40 families have had to leave their homes.

Two women and two children were airlifted out of the area after flames took hold nearby.

The women and children in question were Hannah and her loved ones.

They'd been guided by firefighters to a field sheltered from the fire,

where they were met by the air ambulance.

But before they were airlifted to safety, all their thoughts were centred on their home.

All we could see was a plume of black smoke behind the house.

-It just kept coming up over the house?

-We thought...

Then we heard popping sounds and Mum thought it was gas in the windows, in the double glazing.

That must have been a terrible low point

cos you're thinking, we're losing our home as well.

That was absolutely it, that was it.

But my mum, she just thought, that's it now. We can't do anything about it. That's it, it's gone.

However, believe it or not, Hannah's house survived.

And, in actual fact, there was no damage to the house in the end?

No, and there's no doubt that was down to the fire service.

No doubt at all.

On the afternoon of the blaze, the firefighters were helped by the wind gradually dying down

to a light breeze again,

which slowed the fire's progress.

Then, by damping down the ground around Hannah's house

and spraying the flames with gallons of water,

150 firefighters were finally able to contain the blaze,

with just three metres to spare before it reached their property.

At one stage, flames were licking at the hedge that borders Hannah's garden.

As for the loud bangs she'd heard and attributed to her windows exploding,

these were tyres popping in a field full of old cars next door.

But others weren't so lucky.

The great heath fire of 2003 did untold damage to four hectares of land,

forced 40 families out of their homes,

destroyed 20 cars and did tens of thousands of pounds worth of damage to properties and vehicles.

When fire crews returned 24 hours later,

these were the scenes of devastation that greeted them.

These potentially devastating wild fires are a commonplace occurrence in this area.

At the height of summer, Dorset fire crews can be called out

ten times a day to deal with them

and there are, on average, 238 Dorset wild fires a year -

destroying on average 50,000 square metres of heath land.

But for East Dorset's senior ranger Matt Reeks,

this particular blaze will live long in his memory.

Did you actually ever find out how the 2003 fire started?

It was children having a small campfire -

it was the school holidays and it started at that tree.

-Right there?

-And it was a case of a small campfire innocently lit,

um...just got the wind and went up.

You can see it went up that slight ravine.

-And just the wind caught it.

-The wind caught it, straight up.

And when a heath fire is fed by strong winds,

it can advance at speeds of up to 30 metres a minute.

Matt took me up the hill to show me how far this one travelled in less than an hour.

So just explain the geography to me from here.

OK, we've basically come up from where the fire started,

-so the cliff-line runs across to our right-hand side.

-OK.

And the fire came across here to that sort of line of trees.

That's Coopers Lane and you can just see the roof of the house.

-Oh, that's the house there!

-That's the house down there.

-Oh, right!

So we're looking at this sweep of fire that came right across.

Heath fires can cause tremendous damage, given the right conditions,

but should you ever find yourself in this sort of terrain,

there are some simple measures you can take to avoid starting a blaze.

In general, obviously don't bring any intention with you of having a fire or a barbecue.

It's just not worth it.

There's a multitude of reasons not to drop litter

but especially for the sort of fire element of it.

If you are a smoker, either don't smoke while you're here,

or make sure they're put out properly and take them away with you

cos it's quite windy today - a cigarette, the wind, a small bit of dead material, that's it.

We're in the same position all over again.

But if you're unfortunate enough to come across a woodland or heath fire,

the first thing the fire service asks that you do is call 999

and give as much information as you can.

If possible, you should stay at the scene to direct them

but only if it's safe to do so.

Finally, under no circumstances should you attempt to put out any fires yourself.

Leave that to the professionals.

Today, six years on from the famous Verwood Forest fire,

the countryside bears little trace of the blazing path of destruction that almost engulfed a whole town.

Although several outbuildings were destroyed along Coopers Lane, the houses themselves were untouched.

Hannah, her family and her beloved dogs

have settled back into their idyllic rural life

but she'll never forget that fateful day when sunshine and wind combined

to almost destroy everything she held dear.

Thankfully, these people survived the effects of extreme weather.

Join us next time for more amazing stories on Living Dangerously.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd 2009

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