Heavy Goods Vehicle Accident

[Tim_w]

Hello  All

Here is my first photo story for Playmofriends and things have certainly come a long way since the advent of digital cameras.

HGV Accident

At 11.10 am control received multiple calls reporting a serious RTC involving several vehicles. The caller's stated that there where 2 cars and a HGV involved in a collision on a busy stretch of road and that people where trapped. 

Due to the severity of the incident controll requested the Rescue Tender and 2 support pump's from Pendeford along with 1 pump from Claregate. The Clinical Support Unit and 2 ambulances where also dispatched along with Police to controll traffic which was building up as a result of the collision.

Below are pictures taken of the scene on mobile phones shortly after the incident. A Police helicopter was in the area immediately after the accident and captured the scene from the air. All pictures where submitted to Police accident investigators and are shown below.

[Tim_w]

Here are some dramatic pictures of the rescue taken by the official brigade photographer. Due to lots of things happening all at once it is hard to capture a sequence of events so here are various pictures taken as things happened.

The first priority for the fire brigade was to stabilise the HGV trailer. Luckily the vehicle was not loaded at the time of the incident or things would have become more difficult. These fire fighters are using bottle jacks operated by a hand pump to support the trailer. Several jacks along with wheel chocks are already in place and although the vehicle is now stable it is still treated with the greatest care.

[Tim_w]

As the fire fighters finish securing the trailer a team get to work on removing the roof. Miraculously the driver of the car survived with little injury due to his relatively low speed upon impact. A member of the ambulance service is inside the car keeping him calm while the fire service get to work. 

As soon as the trailer is secure the driver of the HGV is also freed from his cab and passed down to waiting paramedics. It is believed he suffered a mild heart attack, which lead to him swerving across the road.

[Tim_w]

Over the other side of the road things are more serious and fire fighters have removed the roof as quickly as possible.
According to witnesses the driver of the blue car was travelling at high speed. After swerving across the road to avoid the collision the car hit the embankment and rolled over landing back on its wheels.

In the second picture 2 fire fighters prepare to use the pedal cutter operated by a hand pump to free the female occupants feet. All though her condition is serious her injuries are not thought to be life threatening.

[Tim_w]

After a lot of hard work the driver of the red car is freed and lifted out by stretcher. He is transferred immediately to a waiting ambulance and taken to the local hospital.

[Tim_w]

The female occupant of the blue car has now been freed a full 30 minutes into the incident. She is transferred to a waiting helicopter suffering from serious but none life threatening leg injuries.

[Tim_w]

Finally here is another picture of the scene taken from the Police helicopter.

[playmofire]

A busy day, Tim.  Thanks for sbharing it with us, and do I see some new equipment in use there?

[Tim_w]

Hello  Gordon 

Thank you very much indeed for the kind reply. Your feedback is allways very much appreciated.
Yes there is certainly a lot of new equipment involved at this incident. In the next few days TJW Fire Service Equipment Ltd will be sending some samples over to Copt Hewick for operational testing as a good will gesture .

Kindest Regards Tim 

[playmofire]

Hello  Gordon 

Thank you very much indeed for the kind reply. Your feedback is allways very much appreciated.
Yes there is certainly a lot of new equipment involved at this incident. In the next few days TJW Fire Service Equipment Ltd will be sending some samples over to Copt Hewick for operational testing as a good will gesture .

Kindest Regards Tim 

I look forward to that, Tim.

I got on with my RW a bit yesterday, the equivalent of a light emergency tender, using the 3614, and the new LF8 on the 3614.  I'll email you some mockup pics of the latter.