Incident 38/2015 – collapsed walker near to Jubilee Tower, Darwen Moor

At 13.44hrs this sunny afternoon, the team was contacted via SARCALL by NWAS (Lancashire) Broughton EOC AirDesk, requesting the teams assistance with the report of a collapsed hill walker near to Jubilee (Darwen) Tower, on Darwen Moor.

Our Team Leader Garry Rhodes MBE answered the call, whilst other members including our Deputy Team Leader Chris Greenhalgh – who lives close to our Base / HQ, started responding to our three team vehicle garage locations to collect team vehicles should they be required.

With more information gathered, a full team pager call out was made at 13.56hrs requesting all responding team member meet at Roddlesworth Information Centre.

The 49 year old male walker, from Darwen, had collapsed in the company of his partner, resulting in a 999 call to NWAS.

The North West Air Ambulance Helimed 08 from Blackpool Airport, was also called by NWAS EOC, and arrived overhead, then landing nearby to the casualty site just before 14.00hrs.

The Helimed Aircrew Paramedics then walked to the casualty site to commence immediate casualty care, placing the collapsed male on to a scoop stretcher.

Responding team members, principally in our four Land Rover Ambulances, were sent to different access points on to the moor, as the exact casualty location took time to establish.

Team members in two of our Land Rovers which had accessed the tracks on the flanks of Darwen Moor, from Belgrave and Sunnyhurst, to get as close as possible to the casualty site, met up with the Helimed crew on scene at 14.28hrs.

The crew members, totalling eight, from our Bolton Mobiles 1 and 2 Land Rovers, working with the Helimed crew, carried the casualty across the moorland slopes on a mountain rescue stretcher, to the waiting Air Ambulance helicopter, which departed at 14.53hrs for Royal Blackburn Hospital.

At this stage, other team members in our Bolton Mobiles 3 and 4 Land Rovers, and one team member on foot, were also en route to the casualty site, and were all stood down, as were three other members at Roddlesworth Information Centre car park.

The following resources were involved in this incident:

• NWAS (Cumbria and Lancashire)
  • Broughton EOC Air Desk despatcher
    • 1x Emergency Ambulance (2x crew) on hold at the Sunnyhurst Inn, Darwen, should it be required, stood down.
• North West Air Ambulance
  • Helimed 08 from Blackpool Airport, Pilot / Captain Neil Airey (a great friend of the team and former Duddon and Furness MRT team member) and two Aircrew Paramedics.
• Bolton Mountain Rescue Team
  • 22x Team call out list members responded in total, with eight being involved directly at the casualty site, and others en route to the casualty site or on hold at the Roddlesworth Information Centre car park RVP.

The team would like to thank the many local walkers and hill walkers at Roddlesworth, Belgrave, Sunnyhurst and on Darwen Moor who wished us well, and apologies to those we didn’t get chance to talk too at points when we were a little busy with the conduct of this incident.