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.
At 12:12 today the team was contacted by the North West Ambulance Service (Lancashire) to assist with an incident where a lady had slipped on ice.
The 64 year old lady had been walking with family members descending the track from Darwen (Jubilee) Tower where she had slipped on ice suffering a suspected ankle fracture. The party were able to give an accurate grid reference to the ambulance control centre which assisted in our team being able to access her location quickly.
First on scene was Paul Brain who was able to direct the Land Rover ambulance with more members to the casualty site, and provide some protection from the cold weather with a shelter.
After stabilising the casualties ankle with a vacuum splint and administering pain killing gas, the casualty was transferred to a mountain rescue stretcher and carefully carried down the icy path to the main road by the Sunnyhurst Inn.
Here the casualty was transferred into the back of our BM3 Land Rover ambulance where she was transported to Royal Blackburn Hospital.
In total 17 full Team Call Out members attended this incident with 3 team vehicles., and one friend of the team, Maggie Allred.
We would like to thank the family of the casualty and other passing walkers who stayed on the hill helping to keep the casualty comfortable, and for other walkers who helped to guide our mountain rescue resources to the casualty location.
We would like to wish the lady a speedy recovery back to walking the hills of Darwen.
Incident 84. Sunday 28th September 2014. Search and rescue for two injured persons on the moorland slopes below Darwen Tower.
At circa 03.29hrs this morning a couple out walking in the vicinity of Darwen (Jubilee) Tower, contacted Police via 999 to report that one of the two had slipped and rolled down the hillside, on the moorland slopes beneath the Tower, and that they were uncertain of their exact location on the heather clad slopes.
Shortly after despatching a Police patrol to the area of the Sunnyhurst Inn, Darwen, Police passed what details were known to NWAS (Lancashire) EOC.
A Police helicopter from NPAS (National Police Air Service) was also tasked by Lancashire Constabulary, to commence a search of the Darwen Tower area to locate the couple.
At 03.56hrs, NWAS EOC paged the team for our immediate assistance, the call being answered by our Team Leader Garry Rhodes MBE.
What facts were known were quickly ascertained, and with members already mobilising to our vehicle locations, a full team pager call out was made at 04.08hrs, for members to meet at all three of our strategically placed team vehicle locations, and to make their way to the Emergency vehicles RVP at the car park entrance to Sunnyhurst Wood, just beyond the Sunnyhurst Inn, high above Darwen, and below Darwen Tower.
By 04.30hrs four of our five responding team vehicles had gone mobile, with our fifth mobile at 04.40hrs.
Prior to this NPAS 23, had commenced its search, two Police Officers were deploying on foot, and at circa 04.24hrs, our first two team members, Steve Nelson and Elaine Gilliland had already arrived at the RVP.
By the time our first team vehicle arrived at the RVP at 04.38hrs, guided by the ‘NiteSun’ aircraft searchlight of the Police helicopter NPAS 23, on the ground two Police Officers had located the man and woman, reporting that the man had back injuries.
Team members Elaine and Steve Nelson then went in a Police BMW X5 followed by our BM3 Land Rover with our Deputy Team Leader Chris Greenhalgh and Steve Fletcher, plus the NWAS Emergency Ambulance crew on board, to try to better access the now known casualty site via the myriad of hillside Land Rover accessible tracks.
Not able to do this initially, Elaine and Steve Nelson set off up the hillside on foot, guided by the still on scene helicopter and its fantastic ‘NiteSun’ searchlight, whilst BM3 with its crew and NWAS crew on board went an alternative way on to the moor.
At 04.45hrs our former Deputy Team Leader Geoff Seddon, having accessed the moorland tracks in his 4WD vehicle, and collected two further Police Officers en route, had walked down to the casualty site from where he parked up his vehicle.
With four Police Officers on scene, and Geoff, it was established that the 35 years old male had sustained suspected C spine, back and abdominal and leg injuries, plus a head injury.
By 04.49hrs three other team vehicles were present at the RVP, and a search and rescue control to co-ordinate the incident was established in our Incident Control Vehicle.
Team members were then deployed by Team Land Rovers to Darwen Tower, where on foot they then descended the heather clad moorland slopes to the casualty site, along with a mountain rescue stretcher, splints and other essential equipment.
With NWAS, Police and team members now at the casualty site, evacuation options were looked at, with the decision being made because of the man’s injuries, to stretcher evacuate him back down to the Sunnyhurst Inn / Sunnyhurst Wood car park RVP.
As this was all happening, the injured man’s 26 year old companion suffered a worsening of a pre existing medical condition, and also stated she had an ankle injury.
With the stretcher evacuation in progress, the woman was walked along the moorland slope and to a team vehicle, which then descended with her to the RVP.
At 06.10hrs, the injured man was at the RVP and placed in to the responding NWAS Ambulance for further assessment.
By 06.18hrs the woman was also at the RVP, where her now worsening condition, led to her being immediately transported in our Land Rover Mountain Rescue Ambulance BM2, directly to Blackburn Hospital as an emergency admission.
The injured male was then taken by NWAS Ambulance to Preston Hospital.
All was not over for us, as during the rescue, one of our Land Rovers – BM3, had run a wheel in to a ditch as part of the narrow track had collapsed it was travelling on.
With the assistance of our BM1 Land Rover and its winch, BM3 was quickly recovered back on to the track, and by 08.15hrs all MRT and Police personnel were off the moor and at the RVP.
With refreshments served from our BM6 Incident Control Vehicle, and incident information collated, all left the RVP by 08.36hrs.
The following resources were involved in this incident:
Lancashire Constabulary
Force Control Room
five Police Officers in four vehicles, all from Blackburn Division.
National Police Air Service
Helicopter NPAS 23, based at BAE Systems Warton.
North West Ambulance Service (Lancashire)
NWAS Broughton EOC
one NWAS Emergency Ambulance from Accrington ambulance Station, one Paramedic and one Emergency Medical Technician on board.
Bolton Mountain Rescue Team
19 team Call Out list members present on scene
four Team Land Rover Mountain Rescue Ambulance vehicles, and our Incident Control Vehicle.
SARDA Wales
Mountain Rescue Trailing Search Dog team, handler Steve Nelson and navigator Elaine Gilliland, both of Bolton MRT and included in the above figures
Trailing Search Dog Boris (Boris was not deployed on this incident)
This was a co-ordinated multi agency response to locate and then treat both persons who first reported themselves unaware of their exact location and injured, in the early hours of the morning having gone to the Tower to view the night time (well early morning) lights of Darwen.
Finally we would like to thank all the passing (very) early morning dog walkers, ramblers and mountain bikers, who enquired of our presence and then wished the team well and gave their thanks for what we had done.
Today at 11.32hrs the team was paged by NWAS (Lancashire) Broughton EOC to provide assistance to an NWAS (Lancashire) Emergency Ambulance crew dealing with an injured male runner in the Sunnyhurst Woods area of Darwen.
The 25 year old man had been out training with a friend, as part of his recovery back to full health from an ankle injury, when he stumbled, suffering a suspected fractured ankle!
Upon realising the injured male was remote from the road, and on the track network within Sunnyhurst Woods (Actually on the Witton Weavers Way footpath route) the NWAS crew requested MRT assistance.
After our Deputy Team Leader Geoff Seddon and Call Out Contact Mike Marsh had both liaised with NWAS EOC a full pager call out was made at 11.40hrs by which time the first team members were already responding to our Ladybridge Hall Base / HQ to collect a team vehicle.
In total three team Land Rover Mountain Rescue Ambulances responded, with the first going mobile at 11.45hrs.
Team member Paul Brain, was first at scene, at 11.55hrs, meeting one of the responding NWAS crew members at Earnsdale Road, who guided Paul to the casualty site, enabling him to inform other responding MRT members of the exact location of the injured runner.
With the arrival of the first team vehicles, at circa 12.00hrs at the initial RVP, other responding team members were transported in our Bolton Mobile 1 vehicle, nearer to the location, accessible via the local track network.
By 12.32hrs all responding members were involved in the rescue and subsequent stretcher evacuation of the injured male, who had been treated by the NWAS Emergency Ambulance crew.
The injured runner was placed on to one of our specialist mountain rescue stretchers, and carried from the location, on some steps within the woods, to our waiting Bolton Mobile 3 vehicle, which then further transported him to the NWAS Emergency Ambulance on Earnsdale Road.
The man was then taken by Ambulance to Royal Blackburn Hospital, with all resources on scene being clear by 13.26hrs.
The following resources were involved in this incident;
NWAS (Lancashire); Broughton EOC and an Emergency Ambulance and two person crew from Darwen Ambulance Station.
Bolton Mountain Rescue Team; Three Land Rover Mountain Rescue Ambulance vehicles (Radio callsigns Bolton Mobile 1,2 and 3) with one team member (Our Deputy Team Leader) co-ordinating our response from his home location, thirteen team Call Out list members present on scene, and two further Call Out list members stood down responding.
During this incident, the team received a further call out, this time from NWAS (Manchester) Parkway EOC, at 12.46hrs, regarding an incident in the Standish area, the NWAA Helimed was already responding to this incident, and as we were already deployed in Darwen, it was arranged that we would be called to assist if the Helimed crew required such.
As such we were not required to assist, and this call for our possible assistance is recorded here for information and interest only and does not feature in our Incident listings.
Late this very warm and dry evening, Lancashire Constabulary were made aware of an incident in the vicinity of Darwen Tower (Jubilee Tower) and investigating Officers located three male youths, all apparently intoxicated, one of whom, a 21 year old from the Darwen area, had sustained a suspected ankle fracture.
An immediate request due to the moorland location was made for mountain rescue assistance, alongside Lancashire Constabulary contacting NWAS (Lancashire) for their obvious involvement.
At 22.26hrs via the SARCALL system, we were paged (With our ‘Call Out contacts also receiving text and email notification) by Lancashire Constabulary informing us of their request for a casualty evacuation from Darwen Tower.
Experienced team member Steve Fletcher contacted Lancashire Constabulary (Blackburn) to obtain more details, whilst our Deputy Team Leader Geoff Seddon contacted the Lancashire Constabulary Force Incident Manager, and our Team Leader Garry Rhodes MBE contacted NWAS (Lancashire) EOC Broughton.
With team members already en route to team vehicle garage locations and the incident location, at 22.45hrs a full pager call out was initiated with the message containing more information and a detailed RVP.
At 22.53hrs our first team member Gyles Denn arrived at the Manor Road / Belgrave Road, Darwen RVP, at the base of one of the numerous moorland tracks leading up to Darwen (Jubilee) Tower.
Here Gyles met with the responding Police Officers and the NWAS crew.
At 23.00hrs the first of our three responding Mountain Rescue Land Rover ambulances arrived at the RVP, our BM4 vehicle, and accessed the moorland track network, with a Police Officer on board, to locate the casualty site.
Our Deputy Team Leader Geoff Seddon, with Mike Marsh as his passenger, in his 4WD Vehicle, then arrived at the RVP at 23.05hrs, and taking an NWAS Paramedic on board his vehicle, he also accessed the moorland track network.
At this same time our BM4 and its crew had located the casualty site, and commenced casualty care of the mans displaced right ankle.
Entonox pain killing gas was administered and by 23.11hrs his ankle was splinted using one of our specialist vacuum splints.
By 23.17hrs our second Land Rover BM3 was at the casualty site, by which time it had been decided to evacuate the injured male in our Deputy Team Leaders vehicle.
Finally our third Land Rover responding arrived at the RVP and accessed the track to assist with transporting the two companions of the injured male back to the RVP.
By 23.31hrs the casualty was at the roadsire RVP on Manor Road / Belgrave Road and transferred to the NWAS Emergency Ambulance for further assessment.
The Ambulance departed at 23.55hrs for Royal Blackburn Hospital, with all team vehicles and members leaving the Incident RVP by midnight.
We would like to express our thanks to the residents of Manor Road / Belgrave Road, Darwen, for their understanding with the use of their quiet residential area, as the emergency vehicle RVP.
The following resources were deployed to this incident;
Lancashire Constabulary; Four Officers and their vehicles from Blackburn and Darwen Division.
NWAS (Lancashire); EOC Broughton and an Emergency Ambulance with a Paramedic and an EMT 1 on board, from Darwen Ambulance Station.
Bolton MRT; Seventeen Team Call Out list members on scene, with a further three stood down responding to this incident, and three of our Land Rover Mountain Rescue Ambulance vehicles (BM2,3,4)
A large number of police officers are being deployed to areas within Didsbury alongside colleagues from @manchesterfire to support @ManCityCouncil with evacuating residents at risk of flooding from #StormChristoph
⚠️ Severe Flood Warning covering parts of Didsbury, Chorlton & Northenden ⚠️
Please share the below image with friends, family & networks should anyone need info on how to prepare, what to expect & who to contact for urgent care/support.
Learn more: orlo.uk/xlwsbpic.twitter.com/AMelNkAY5U
The #M60 anticlockwise both entry slips from the #A576 and the roundabout itself at #J19 (#Middleton#A576) is currently CLOSED due to flooding in the carriageway. Traffic Officers are currently at scene, Maintenance Crews are on their way to the area to assist.
@OfficialTfGM
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May 4 2015
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:
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.
By Steven Fletcher • 2015, Incident • Tags: Darwen, WalkerRambler