Providing Help in Remote Areas


Yorkshire Air Ambulance landing near to Holme Moss summit.

Yorkshire Air Ambulance landing near to Holme Moss summit.

On Sunday 10th April we were called out to assist a walker who had fallen and had a suspected broken leg. He was in the vicinity of the summit of Holme Moss, but located some distance from the nearest roadside access, which was well over a mile away. Because of this, we had been asked to provide support to the ambulance service in getting to the casualty and recovering the casualty to a roadside ambulance. Initially, our controllers requested the Yorkshire Air Ambulance but it was unavailable as it was attending another incident. Knowing the remote location, the duty Team Leader therefore took the step of extending the call-out to two neighbouring teams: Glossop and Holme Valley in order to ensure that there would be adequate personnel to support a long stretcher carry-out. While this was being arranged, we also received another call-out to assist two injured mountain bikers in the Greno Woods area. As we were all deploying to Holme Moss, the duty controller asked Edale MRT to take the other call-out.

Landing the Air Ambulance on the moors above Holme Moss

Landing the Air Ambulance on the moors above Holme Moss

Members from all three teams were quickly on-site at Holme Moss summit car park. An advanced partly rapidly deployed to locate the casualty and provide initial medical care. When they had located the casualty, the Police Helicopter had become available and was used to airlift two paramedics directly to the casualty site. The helicopter could not stay as it had to refuel.

A second party was then deployed to the casualty site carrying additional medical equipment and a stretcher. As the second party arrived at the site, some of the additional equipment was passed to the paramedics and the stretcher was prepared for carrying the casualty back to the roadside.

Fortunately for us, the Air Ambulance was now available so we quickly prepared a landing site as close to the casualty as possible. We transferred the casualty on the stretcher to the aircraft where he was then transferred to the awaiting ambulance at the roadside. Apologies to any of the cars that were momentarily delayed while the helicopter set down on the road.

Once the helicopter had left with the casualty, we cleared the site and recovered all of our equipment back to the car park. After a quick debrief, we re-packed and checked the vehicles, and released the team members to continue their weekend. The entire operation lasted just over 3 hours and involved over 20 Mountain Rescue volunteers from 3 teams.

Team members working with the Yorkshire Air Ambulance on a call-out near Holme Moss.

Team members working with the Yorkshire Air Ambulance on a call-out near Holme Moss.