At 18:28 this evening the team was paged via Lancashire Constabulary, with a request to assist Lancashire Ambulance Service with the initial report of an injured male.
The incident location was on the slopes of Darwen Hill, on the track network connecting the Sunnyhurst Inn to the summit of Darwen Tower. A 21 year old male had apparently jumped from the first floor landing of Darwen Tower, a vertical drop of approximately 20ft onto the hard stony surround below. Although injured and in a great deal of pain, he attempted to make his way off the hill, with the support of two companions who had been with him at the time of incident. Part way down the slope of Darwen Hill, the young man could go on no further and collapsed by the trackside. His companions then called for an ambulance.
An LAS Paramedic Crew were called to the scene and walked onto the moor, and very soon realised they needed to call on the services of the team. The LAS crew applied a vacuum splint to the injured man’s leg, to treat a suspected fractured ankle. Our first member arrived at the Sunnyhurst Inn RVP at 18:54, with our first team vehicle arriving at 18:58, followed within minutes by two other team vehicles, our Team Leader, Deputy Leader and other responding members.
The team assembled at the Sunnyhurst Inn a few hundred metres away, and a team vehicle with a 5 man crew was driven up the track to rendezvous with our first team member who had reached the casualty site, and had been in telephone contact with our Team Leader at the RVP. Other team members followed on foot.
The team then assisted the LAS crew in loading the casualty onto the team’s long board and headblocks.
Team members arrive at the incident site on Darwen Hill
The team assists the LAS crew in loading the casualty onto a long board.
The casualty, now on a long board was then loaded onto one of our Bell Mountain Rescue stretchers, and was carried downhill to the roadhead by a part of 26 team members present on the hill, with 1 team member staying at the roadside control and two other team members stood down responding.
Now in the hands of the team, the 600m evacuation to the Sunnyhurst Inn is underway.
The casualty was loaded into the LAS ambulance with departed at 19:48 for the Royal Blackburn Hospital, with team members immediately returning to our LBH base at the request of NWAS due to a situation developing in the Greater Manchester Area.
