VISIT TO WINDERMERE FIRE STATION
It was arranged that I would visit Windermere Fire Station at a later date, when my husband and I visited Cockermouth with Dominic Harrison. When I arrived I was delighted to find Canon Graham Bettridge, who is Chaplain to the Police and has recently been asked to be Chaplain to the Fire Service, there as well.
We were provided with an insight into the difficult and challenging Road Traffic Collision (RTC) work the service undertake. The evening started with a meet and greet with Watch Manager Wayne Ducksbury, who runs the station on a day to day basis, Station Manager Callum Graham, who has overall responsibility for the station and Deputy Chief Fire Officer John Moorcroft, who has strategic responsibility and who also brought along Canon Bettridge.
After a brief on the evenings events, Canon Bettridge and I donned protective clothing consisting of fire kit, goggles, gloves and helmets and volunteered to sit in a vehicle in order to experience all the effects surrounding the extrication from a vehicle following an accident.
Fire appliances "attended" and the priority was first to protect the scene and stabilise the casualties by a paramedic trained Firefighter and colleague entering the vehicle to reassure us and prevent further head movement which could damage the spinal cord. Whilst this was going on fire crews had laid out equipment to -
1. deal with a fire should the fuel ignite
and
2. hydraulic rescue equipment and first aid kits.
With us stabilised, the crew then started forcing open the doors using hydraulic spreaders which have a spreading capacity of several tonnes. Relatively low speed accidents often cause the doors to jam due to the deformation of the car which is designed to crumple, absorbing the energy of the accident and protecting the occupants. With doors open, the crew then worked on removing the roof of the vehicle using cutters which are capable of cutting through the columns of a car like a knife through butter.
With the roof removed and doors open we calmly got out of the car and made our way to the "recovery" room for a cup of tea and a debrief.
Whilst carrying out the drill, one of the fire engines was pulled away to a report of a fire in the village, which fortunately turned out to be a false alarm.
We were told that Crews across the county deliver Road Awareness Training to ALL year 11 pupils, ALL Young Firefighter attendees, ALL Pass Plus (additional new driver training) attendees, and other groups who request the hard hitting input which is delivered by the Fire and Rescue Service in order to contribute to reduction of the number of killed or seriously injured people on Cumbria's roads.
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