Today very early this morning two Team Call Out List members, Samantha McKay and Martin Banks journeyed in our Land Rover Mountain Rescue Ambulance vehicle ‘BM2’ to Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service’s HQ and Training School at Sadler Road, Winsford, to take part in an Incident Safety Assessment and Control (ISAC) course, organised and facilitated by ATACC (Anaesthesia Trauma and Critical Care) and Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service.

This is the seventh time team members have participated in this excellent course, the first being 19th November 2009, when our Team Doctor at the time, Clare Whitney and Steve Nelson attended, with the second being on 22nd April 2010, when our Team Leader Garry Rhodes MBE and Team Call Out list member (and Regional MR Water Officer at the time) Fred Taylor attended, the third when very experienced Team Call Out list member Chris Tennant and Trainee Team member Nick Berry attended on 15th July 2010, the fourth when our Training Officer Elaine Gilliland, and team Call Out list members John Fletcher and Paul Brain attended on 25th November 2010 and the fifth on 12th May 2011, when Trainee Team members at the time, John Dickinson, Paul Copley and Paul Chisholm all attended. The last course attended was on 23rd February 2012, when four team members participated, Michael O’Brien, Steve O’Hara, Neil Warburton and Dave Marsh (A former SARDA Dog Handler),
Team Call Out list member Alistair Greenough, who in full time employment is an Accident and Emergency Nurse at Warrington Hospital, is an instructor on this excellent recognised course, and today led a session on Personal Protective Clothing and assisted with many of the ‘hands on scenarios.’

The ISAC course concentrates on incident scene safety, the safety of the emergency responders, increasing incident scene awareness and multi agency working, with both classroom based sessions and outdoor practical exercises and incident scenarios.
Samantha and Martin, would like to thank all the lecturers and helpers, and also their fellow emergency services colleagues on the course for welcoming them so openly. Thanks also to Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service for providing such excellent facilities.
Both Samantha and Martin stated they found it a very enjoyable and highly informative day.

A special thanks to Bolton MRT Team member Alistair Greenough for continuing to arrange placements for Bolton MRT members on this excellent course.

Please also see website ‘news’ reports, dated 19th November 2009, 22nd April 2010, 15th July 2010, 25th November 2010, 12th May 2011 and 23rd February 2012.

A personal account of the course appears here with thanks to Martin Banks;

“Today myself and fellow Team member Sam McKay journeyed in BM2 one of our Mountain Rescue Land-Rovers to the Central Training facility for the Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service at Winsford, Cheshire.

Arriving at 8.15am for a 8.45 start we joined 25 other responders including three members of our neighboring team – Cheshire Search and Rescue, and other medical personnel from Cheshire NHS, including doctors and nurses.

On arrival we met on the hard shoulder of the M999, a realistic three lane motorway complete with crash barriers, emergency phones, street-lighting and of course suitably damaged cars, lorries and tankers.

Colleagues from Cheshire Search and Rescue looking at the M999 and the car down the embankment

The aim of the one day intensive course was to make respondents aware of what to do when participating in an incident requiring an immediate medical response. Medical Director – Dr. Mark Forrest and other instructors (including Bolton MRT Team Colleague Alistair Greenough), talked about approach, site safety and working with other 999 responders. Different scenarios were shown, via a visual presentation, each being discussed in turn.

Before lunch (which was excellent!) we participated in three scenarios, including searching for casualties in a two story building, hazard identification in an enclosed industrial garage and an evacuation of a causality from a car which had been in contact with a concrete wall and thankfully it already had the roof removed (in a Blue Peter here is one I prepared earlier moment).

After lunch, it was back to the class room for more information on joint working and incident management before we went back out side and actually dismantled a car with three occupants (one of which was Sam). Each casualty was removed as per the need of the injuries, so Sam as the least injured! was removed by long board out of the back of the car after the fire teams removed the roof.

Sam sat in the drivers seat before being extracted!

After a quick break we finalised the day with two external scenarios, one a multi causality including a person squashed under a fuel tanker and a car which had rolled down an embankment which required, triage, asset management and extraction the second a lorry driver who had crashed due to a heart attack and a class room based trauma case.

During the day, all attendees took their part in each of the scenarios, including team leadership, casualty care, with everyone hazard spotting [with site/personal safety being paramount], and still managing some difficult extractions and pre-hospital trauma care.

In conclusion it was a very enjoyable and informative day.”