At 13:00 today, at the height of the storms battering the Northwest region, our Team Leader was contacted by mobile phone by NWAS (Greater Manchester Area) Paramedic Emergency Control for the team’s assistance to the ambulance service given the huge demands being placed on the service due to the storms (structural collapses, roads blocked by minor flooding and trees, dense traffic). A standby pager call shortly after the initial contact was followed by the mobilisation of a small number of team members leading to 15 members in total being available to crew all four of our ambulances and our control function.

Operating out of our Ladybridge Hall Base, the team in the period from 14:25 until the last task at 19:15, dealt with 11 emergency calls from NWAS (GMA), consisting of 3 code reds, and 8 code amber calls, most of which were in the Bolton area. In many cases the team vehicles were used to transport casualties direct to Royal Bolton Hospital.

As ever, the team enjoyed its usual excellent working relations with NWAS (GMA), particularly the PEC staff.

During the storms, our Team Leader was also in contact with Greater Manchester Police, and NWAS (Lancashire Area).

Following the completion of all the incident reports generated by these calls, the team base was closed at 23:40 this evening (This report refers to incidents 15-25/2007. Full details can be found in our Incidents listing).