2012

Dec 27 2012

Incident 101/2012

At 13.34hrs this afternoon, our Team Leader Garry Rhodes MBE was contacted directly by Andy Simpson, the Deputy Team Leader of Rossendale and Pendle MRT, with information of a call out the RPMRT were responding to in the Tottington area, having been contacted at circa 13.30hrs by NWAS (Manchester) Emergency Operations Centre for assistance.

The incident was actually in the Bolton MRTs primary operational response area, and realising this Andy Simpson of RPMRT had contacted our Team Leader.

Garry decided to page out a ‘limited team member call out,’ aimed at those members living or working close to the incident scene, who were asked to respond in their own vehicle’s to assist the RPMRT response.

A full team pager message stating such was sent at 13.41hrs.

Apparently a member of the public walking on the Kirklees Trail adjacent to Tottington, had come across a 68 years old gentleman with shortness of breath, and concerned for his well being had dialled 999 for the Ambulance Service.

A solo crewed NWAS (Manchester) Rapid Response Vehicle had responded, and then called for MRT assistance to help evacuate the gentleman across fields back to the road head.

Our first team member, Steve Nelson, who lives very close to the incident scene, arrived on scene at 13.47hrs, joining responding RPMRT members.

Two other Bolton MRT members also arrived on scene quickly, Neil Warburton and John Dickinson, to assist RPMRT members with the stretcher evacuation of the ill man.

The man had been treated with appropriate drugs by the NWAS Paramedic to assist his breathing.

By circa 14.10hrs, the man was in the specialist Mountain Rescue Land Rover Discovery Ambulance of RPMRT which then took him for further treatment to Fairfield / Bury Hospital.

This incident was an excellent example of inter team joint operational working assisting NWAS (Manchester) just one of many times this year we have jointly worked on call outs with our close colleagues at Rossendale and Pendle MRT.

The following resources were deployed to this incident;

  • Bolton MRT; 3x members on scene, 4x members stood down responding (Two of whom were virtually at the RVP at stand down) Our Team Leader co-ordinated our response from home and liaised with NWAS, GMP and RPMRT (Andy Simpson)
  • Rossendale and Pendle MRT; 6x members on scene, one Land Rover Defender Mountain Rescue Ambulance vehicle, one Land Rover Discovery Mountain Rescue Ambulance vehicle.

NWAS (Manchester) Rapid Response vehicle from Bury Ambulance Station.

And as a footnote ………. Bolton MRT team member Steve Nelson went straight back home to his two children to continue with his (Call Out interrupted!) Day 2 building of a ‘LEGO’ ‘Lord of the Rings’ Castle!

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Dec 25 2012

Incident 100/2012

At circa 02.00hrs in the very early hours of this Christmas Day morning, our team Search Dog Handler Steve Nelson (A member of SARDA Wales) and his specialist Trailing Search Dog Boris, were called out by SARDA (Wales) to assist in a search for a missing 43 year old male in the general area of Cilcain, Mold, North East Wales.

North East Wales Search and Rescue Team (NEWSAR) had been called out earlier at circa 01.00hrs and by daybreak this morning, alongside other SARDA (Wales) assets and North Wales Police, a small number of Cheshire Search and Rescue Team members (From ALSAR) joined in the search operation, with the call to Cheshire SART being made at 08.30hrs.

By 10.20hrs Steve Nelson with Boris was on his way back to his Bury home and a family Christmas, whilst the search continued.

We understand that a RAF MRT on Christmas deployment in the Lake District also attended alongside three members of Ogwen Valley MRT.

At circa 11:00hrs this Christmas Day morning we understand NEWSART located the missing man and arranged for him to be safely transferred to hospital, with all search assets subsequently stood down and all members involved being able to journey home to enjoy their festive celebrations with their families.

We understand that this Christmas Day also saw Cornwall SRT deployed on Bodmin Moor alongside SARDA (England) assets on a search operation, Buxton MRT called out, and Berkshire Lowland Search and Rescue alongside Berkshire SAR Dogs also deployed on a Christmas day search operation.

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Dec 16 2012

Incident 99/2012

Late this morning at 54 year old solo walker from the Westhoughton, Bolton area, whilst out walking in the lower part of the Terraced Gardens at Rivington slipped sustaining a serious ankle injury.

Passers by including a runner alerted both the Ambulance service and the staff at the nearby Great House Barn information centre.

NWAS (Lancashire) Emergency Operations Centre Air Desk alerted and despatched the North West Air Ambulance Helimed 72 from its City Airport Manchester (Barton) airbase.

The casualty site was initially thought, based on reports, to be on the track system in the vicinity of Rivington Hall Barn (popularly known as the “top” barn).

The local United Utilities Ranger, alerted by staff at the Great House Barn information centre, established that Helimed 72 had landed in fields near to the South Lodge entrance of the Terraced Gardens, and opened up local access gates, driving his Land Rover near to where the helicopter had landed to liaise with the helicopter crew.

It was quickly realised that the services of Mountain Rescue would be required and at 11:57 we were paged to assist.

In the meantime, a nearby member of Rossendale & Pendle MRT, Jake Clark, having seen Helimed 72 land close by, offered his services. The first two Bolton MRT team members to arrive at the initial RVP of Rivington Hall Barn, at 12:12, Gill Leigh and Mark Scott quickly established the casualty site location to be the steep wooded hillside, just above the South Lodge entrance to the Terraced Gardens, and they guided in our responding team vehicles & members.

The casualty had sustained a serious fracture dislocation of his left ankle, and with the Helimed crew and our MR casualty carer Mark Scott jointly working together, the casualty was given painkilling drugs.


With his injury splinted, the injured man was then carried out of the Terraced Gardens on a specialist Mountain Rescue stretcher to the Air Ambulance for onward transfer to Hospital.

At 12:58, Helimed 72 lifted off with the casualty en-route to Royal Blackburn hospital.

The following resources were involved in this incident:

  • NWAS (Lancashire) Emergency Operations Centre, Air Desk
  • North West Air Ambulance Helimed 72, 3 crew on board, polit, paramedic, doctor
  • Bolton MRT, 2 team Land Rover Mountain Rescue Ambulances, 16 members on scene, 3 further members stood down responding.
  • Rossendale & Pendle MRT, 1 member
  • United Utilities Ranger Service, Ranger Guy Barker (in his Land Rover vehicle)

Given the popularity of the area this incident attracted a large crowd of interested bystanders, one of whom we understand included former team member from the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, Dave Carpenter, who supplied photographs of the incident to the daily Bolton News newspaper (the report on this incident, with Dave’s photographs, should be in the Monday 17th December edition of the Bolton News)

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Dec 14 2012

Incident 98/2012

During the early hours of this morning, emergency services saw themselves stretched in West Yorkshire due to weather related incidents. This culminated in Yorkshire Ambulance Service declaring a ‘major incident,’ and directly due to the high volume of calls upon their service, in a mutual aid agreement requested the assistance of NWAS (Greater Manchester Area)
The following is a part extract from the BBC West Yorkshire website, dated today:

Severe weather in Leeds and West Yorkshire

Ice has caused treacherous conditions in West Yorkshire, with the emergency services reporting high numbers of accidents on roads and pavements.

Black ice has resulted in an “exceptional” number of crashes, mainly on the motorway network, police said.

Yorkshire Ambulance Service said it had received “unprecedented” levels of calls relating to the ice.

It urged people only to call 999 if someone had a life-threatening illness or injury.

The service said it had activated its “major incident plan” to allow special arrangements to be put in place to cope with the surge in demand, including cancelling non-essential transport journeys to help with the 999 emergency service.

Dr Alison Walker, executive medical director at the trust, said: “The service has received hundreds of 999 calls for weather-related incidents and we are treating a lot of patients involved in road traffic collisions and injured in slips, trips and falls.

“These calls are in addition to other medical emergencies such as heart attacks and strokes.”

The resources then deployed by NWAS (Greater Manchester Area) to assist the situation in Yorkshire, resulted in turn in NWAS (Greater Manchester Area) requesting the assistance of our team and Oldham MRT to provide assistance to NWAS (Greater Manchester Area)

We were initially paged at 10.04hrs, answered by our Team Leader Garry Rhodes MBE, who consulted with NWAS (Greater Manchester Area) Emergency Operations Centre, as to what resources the Bolton MRT could place at the availability of NWAS. Our Team Leader also liaised with Mick Nield, his counterpart Team Leader in Oldham MRT.

At 10.26hrs the Bolton MRT membership was paged to standby alert, with a full team call out page being made at 11.10hrs for all available members to RVP at our Ladybridge Hall Base / HQ.

In liaison with NWAS (Greater Manchester Area) Emergency Operations Centre, three of our four Land Rover Mountain Rescue Ambulances with three crew members on board each, were placed at the use of NWAS, controlled and co-ordinated by our Team Leader Garry Rhodes MBE with initial help from colleague team members Alan James and Dave Marsh, in constant liaison with NWAS (Greater Manchester Area) Emergency Operations Centre.

The three vehicles and their crews throughout the early afternoon and into late afternoon responded to four emergencies, in the Hawkshaw, Great Lever, Bolton town centre and Tonge Moor areas.

Casualties ranged in age from four to sixty three, including two with medical conditions, a pregnancy and a fall.

All four casualties were transported to Royal Bolton Hospital by Bolton MRT vehicles for treatment.

As the afternoon wore on more Bolton MRT members became available, but by 17.25hrs in agreement with NWAS (Greater Manchester Area) Emergency Operations Centre, the Bolton MRT, with thanks from NWAS (GMA) EOC for our appreciated help was stood down.

By this stage eighteen team Call Out list members were available at our Ladybridge Hall Base / HQ with a further two of our Emergency Vehicles about to be declared available to NWAS, to join the three which had been deployed throughout the earlier part of the day. (One further Bolton MRT team member was stood down responding to our Base / HQ)

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Dec 9 2012

Incident 94/2012

Following a notification call yesterday evening, this morning our specialist Trailing Search Dog Boris and his handler, Bolton MRT member Steve Nelson (SARDA Wales) journeyed from their Bury home, leaving at 09.00hrs, to join in a search operation co-ordinated by Buxton MRT in the Errwood Reservoir area of the Goyt Valley for a missing male.

Steve was joined by our Training Officer Elaine Gilliland, who acted as his navigator for his part in this search operation.

Other MRT and SARDA assets were also involved in this search operation, alongside Police resources.

By 13.00 Steve had returned home, his part (And that of Boris) in the search having concluded.

Later this same afternoon, Steve and Boris (Without Elaine this time) were called to lend their specialist support to another (Unrelated) MRT search operation in the Hollingworth Lake area of Littleborough, but after leaving his home address at circa 15.15hrs he was stood down responding as no longer required. (This second call is recorded here for information and interest only and does not feature in our ‘Incident Listings.’)

The following report with regards to the above search operation within the Goyt Valley, appeared on our national Mountain Rescue England and Wales website on Monday 10th December 2012, and is reproduced here for the further information of our readers:

Major Goyt Valley Search For Poynton Man

A major search was launched in the Goyt Valley on Saturday 8th December following the discovery of a car belonging to a man from Poynton, Cheshire.

Cheshire police became extremely concerned for the welfare of Kevin Bird, 51 years, after he was reported missing from home in Poynton earlier in the day. A police helicopter was tasked to search the area around Errwood and Fernilee reservoirs and police officers from both Cheshire and Derbyshire Constabularies started a search in the immediate vicinity around Errwood Hall car park.

Buxton Mountain Rescue Team, which was fundraising in Castleton at the time, was called out at 1.00 pm and provided thirty volunteers and four search dogs to comb nearby footpaths. Specially trained team members were able to search the water’s edge and the rescue boat from Errwood Sailing Club was of great assistance. A specialist police water search team was also deployed. The search continued into the late evening darkness in freezing conditions and low cloud.

The following day the search resumed at dawn and involved eighty volunteers from Buxton, Kinder and Derby Mountain Rescue Teams. Seven mountain search and rescue dogs also joined the hunt, some travelling from the North East of England. Police specialists on land and water searching were also called in. Heavy rain and the steep terrain of the Goyt Valley hampered the search with all the tributaries to the reservoirs being in flood conditions.

Regrettably, by darkness, no trace of Mr Bird had been found and the rescue teams stood down after a total of over 1,000 man-hours of searching. Roger Bennett, Chairman of Buxton Mountain Rescue Team, said, “We have put a great deal of effort into trying to solve this mystery and we feel sincerely sorry for the family that we have not been able to locate Mr Bird.”

Kevin Bird is described as 6’ 1″ tall, of slim build and believed to be wearing green cargo pants and a white t-shirt. Anyone with any information is asked to contact the police on 101 or anonymously on 0800 555 111 quoting Cheshire police incident number 429 of 8th December.

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