At 13:41 today we were made aware of a casualty who a suffered a suspected sprained ankle in the Pigeon Tower, Rivington area.
Two of our Mountain Rescue Ambulance vehicles were already out visiting the site of a previous incident in Farnworth when the United Utilities Ranger telephoned the team with information from Lancashire Police on the casualty being in the Pigeon Tower region of Rivington.
Both vehicles left Farnworth and proceeded to the Pigeon Tower area to search for the casualty site with vehicles approaching from Horwich and Belmont side of Winter Hill.
Our BM4 landrover was the first to reach the casualty, a 32 year old female from the Prestwich area of Manchester out walking with her husband, on a very icy Belmont Road (now little more than a rough surface moorland track). The casualty was being comforted by her husband and two other passing walkers.
The team splinted the woman’s fractured ankle and administered Entonox pain relieving gas. Following this treatment the casualty was then evacuated to the waiting NWAA Helimed 08 air ambulance helicopter which had also been called to this incident and had managed to land close by.
In total 11 full team callout members attended the incident, eight people in the two landrover ambulance vehicles, and three others who were out walking in the area.
The local area police constable and a PCSO from Adlington police station also attended having been transported up to the site by the United Utilities ranger John Castelli.
At the conclusion of this incident team members transported the husband of the woman involved back down to the barn area to collect his car.
Later on whilst at hospital collecting our equipment used in this incident the womans husband kindly made an on-the-spot donation of £20.
We would like to take the opportunity to publically thank the two passing mountain bikers who made the initial 999 call and two passing hill walkers, Daniel Crosse and his fiance Amy who stopped to offer assistance and comfort up to the arrival of ourselves, the police and helimed.
Despite the recent thaw there are still large patches of surface ice on all the moorland tracks and paths in our area. Walkers and mountain bikers to our area are therefore advised to take considerable care whilst out and about.
The long stretch of 3 inch thick ice on this moorland track!
(All pictures courtesy of & © Mike Egan)
