Durham firefighters commended for aid to people in accident

Firefighters Kieran Hughes, Joshua Roberts and Jamie Clarkson were told they could have saved a life with their courageous and immediate response.

Mr Hughes was off duty at home when he heard an "absolutely massive disruption outside his house", the County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Authority heard.

The fire and rescue service's area manager Steve Wharton said: "He found that there'd been a quite serious road traffic accident next to his home.

"Being off-duty, it could have been easy just to dial 999 and get back to Homes Under The Hammer or whatever he was watching at the time.

"But being that firefighter and that community citizen, he jumped straight to it, went to the scene and made a quick assessment."

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The off-duty firefighter found a seriously injured female pedestrian.

Mr Wharton said: "It was obvious she'd suffered life-changing injuries and her life itself was at risk.

"Without hesitation he started giving her emergency first aid."

The two other on-call firefighters - also based at Stanhope fire station with crew manager Mr Hughes - arrived at around the same time.

Mr Clarkson and Mr Hughes are community safety responders or "tri-responders" trained in all three emergency services - as firefighters, police community support and first responders for North-east Ambulance Service.

He said they immediately used their equipment to treat a severe injury.

Mr Wharton added: "These three firefighters very bravely and courageously got stuck in and made sure that this casualty didn't get any worse and kept her stable until the air ambulance arrived and then assisted with the transporation to hospital."

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He told how they fetched more trauma care equipment to help a second casualty suffering severe shock and called for backup on July 12 last year.

"Unfortunately with the more severe injury, that person did suffer life-changing injuries," said Mr Wharton.

"But it is without doubt that without the quick response, the brave courageous actions of these three firefighters, this person could well have not made it back to hospital.

"It's for those actions we really want to reward them today.

"And this really demonstrates that these three individuals have more than the right stuff to be a proud member of the service, which as head of emergency response makes me proud.

"We've got some of the best firefighters out there keeping your community safe."

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The three received awards "for quick thinking, professional actions".

Chief fire officer Stuart Errington said: "It just shows you the type of people we get into the fire and rescue service, the people who care about the community, the people who want to put themselves at risk in order to save lives."

He said the tri-responder service "probably is the future of emergency service provision in rural areas.

"Having those local responders available with the wide-ranging skills that they've got in that particular area makes a real difference.

"We know every second can count when we're talking about life-saving interventions.

"A huge thank you for the work you've done.

"There's no doubt about it - had you not intervened, had you not taken the highly professional, highly skilled action that you'd taken, that would have ended up with somebody losing their lives. You've directly intervened and saved a life.

"Congratulations and thank you from the bottom of our hearts."

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