Cornwall Fire & Rescue Service Newsdesk

at 20/04/2010 17:13

Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service crews from St Austell, Bodmin and Wadebridge will be awarded Certificates of Merit for Animal Rescue from the RSPCA at a presentation event at St Austell Community Fire Station on Wednesday 21 April 2010.

The ‘Certificate of Merit for Animal Rescue’ is awarded to groups and individuals, on recommendation from an RSPCA Officer, who feels that actions taken in the rescue of an animal warrants official recognition.

CFRS crews from St Austell and Bodmin were involved in the rescue of a Friesian steer from cliffs at Porthpean, St Austell in July last year. Crews from St Austell, Bodmin and Wadebridge were involved in a separate incident when a Jersey cow was rescued from mud at Trenant Vale, Wadebridge in August.

Deputy Chief Fire Officer Paul Walker will be attending the presentation and says: “CFRS deals with various line rescue incidents and personnel receive specialist training and equipment to deal with a variety of incidents ranging from animals that have fallen down shafts through to rescuing injured people from various situations, both above and below ground. We are very proud that our people have been officially recognised for their professionalism and dedication.”

CFRS Incident Manager Lee Griffin who attended the incident in Porthpean said “The welfare of animals in difficulty is an important part of the Humanitarian Service carried out by CFRS and, working closely with the RSPCA, personnel attending these incidents have the welfare of the animal uppermost in their minds. This was a difficult rescue that required extra resources to reach a successful outcome and was both physically and technically challenging. The good news is that the steer suffered no harm as a result of its ordeal and, once released from the harnesses, walked off back up the field!”

RSPCA representatives Chief Inspector Neil Thomas and Inspector Paul Kempson will be presenting the awards to individuals, watches and retained personnel who carried out the rescues.

RSPCA Chief Inspector Neil Thomas said: “The RSPCA values the work that Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service does and is pleased to be able to work in partnership with them and recognise the valuable work they carry out when rescuing animals, and the care, professionalism and sensitivity shown to both animals and owners alike.”

Cornwall Council Cabinet member for Community Safety and Neighbourhoods Lance Kennedy said: “Our firefighters are concientious and professional in their work to save life and operations of this kind provide valuable training opportunities to put into practice the skills needed for a rescue. It is better to have the professionals involved rather than have members of the public attempting their own rescue attempts and putting themselves and others in danger.”


Ends


Note to editors

Full details of each rescue

Rescue of Friesian steer from cliffs at Porthpean, St Austell

20 -21 July 2009
The call came in that a Friesian steer, approx 18mths old and weighing in the region of 500kg, which had been missing for several days, was located near the bottom of a steep, thickly wooded bank, close to the edge of a 50-60 foot drop down to the sea.

The attending RSPCA Officer, Inspector Paul Kempson, requested the attendance of Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service to attempt a rescue.

The steer had fallen from the field, about 20 feet down to a steep slope, which was about 50 feet long and heavily wooded, this then terminated in a drop of 50-60 feet into the sea.

An initial investigation was carried out by RSPCA Inspector Paul Kempson, Group Manager Nigel Vincent, Station Manager Lee Griffin (incident Manager), Watch manager Gary Thomas and FF Andy Watts and it was decided that a rescue was possible, but due to the terrain between the cow and the safety of the field, extra resources would be required.

This rescue would require more than the normal attendance of one set of heavy rescue equipment so the necessary equipment and personnel were assembled for a rescue to be carried out the next day. (There are two sets of heavy rescue equipment within CFRS located on specialist appliances at Bodmin and Camborne community Fire Stations.)

The plan was to rendezvous the following day at the scene with crews from St Austell and Bodmin.

On the morning of the rescue it was raining heavily making the rescue site dangerously slippery so, for safety reasons, IM Lee griffin delayed operations until an improvement in the weather. Late morning the weather broke and crews from Bodmin and St Austell transported the line rescue equipment to the scene of operations in preparation to perform the rescue.

CFRS Technical Rescue Advisor Watch Manager Richard Helleur provided assistance in setting up the rescue lines and acted as cliff edge Safety Officer.

An initial investigation by Firefighters Andy Watts and Paul Kempson, working off lines, was carried out, and it was discovered that the steer had, overnight, moved closer to the edge so time was now of the essence. They cut back thick undergrowth to clear a path so as the steer could be hauled up.

Two sets of animal rescue harness were taken down and Andy and Paul proceeded to fit both to the steer, (to enable two sets of hauling lines to be used) and, once the animal was not able to walk up the slope any further, it lay down and a salvage sheet was worked under it which made it possible to haul the steer up the slope, sliding the sheet as it was moved. This was very difficult, as, although the thick undergrowth had been removed, there were several large trees that could not be cut down, necessitating the rigging of two sets of hauling equipment.

Crews then proceeded to pull the steer up until it came up against trees which blocked any further progress, the load was then transferred from one hauling rig to the other, so as deviations could be made around the obstacles.

Once they had reached the drop immediately below the field, one set of the line rescue equipment was re-rigged to a tree to provide a vertical lift, so as the steer could be hauled up and over the hedge and back into the field-to safety! The terrain and location meant that mechanical means of hauling was not possible, and all hauling was done by hand.

Attending Crews
Bodmin (3 appliances) & St Austell (one appliance)

Attending Officers
Station manager Lee Griffin –Incident Commander
Group manager Nigel Vincent

Other Personnel Attending
Watch Manager Richard Helleur
Watch Manager Gary Thomas

The individuals/watches receiving certificates for the rescue of the Friesian steer from cliffs at Porthpean, St Austell, are;

Group Manager Nigel Vincent
Service Support
Service Headquarters

Station Manager Lee Griffin
Service Support
Service Headquarters

Watch Manager Richard Helleur
Training Department
Portreath

Orange watch, 7.1 Bodmin
Represented by:
WM Dave Hollyoak
FF Tim Edwards

Retained personnel, 7.1 Bodmin
Represented by:
CM Terry Smith
CM Steve Hill

Orange watch, 6.1 St Austell
Represented by:
WM Lee Thomas
FF Doug Gordon

The second rescue;
Rescue of Jersey cow from mud at Trenant Vale, Wadebridge

27 August 2009
The call came in as a Jersey cow stuck in mud up to its flanks, in thick woodland; RSPCA Officer Inspector Hobbs requested the attendance of the Fire & Rescue Service.

Crews set up a pulley system to lift/pull the cow clear, and personnel entered and manoeuvred lengths of hose around the cow to enable it to be pulled from the mud. Once this was complete it was found that, due to being in the mud for so long the cow’s legs were very cold and it was unable to support its own weight. A decision was made to keep the cow suspended in the harness and crews warmed the animal’s legs by using halogen lamps and vigorous massaging to improve blood flow! The attending vet decided that it was probably an issue of giving the cow more time to recover, so bales were provided and the cow was bedded down for the night in situ. The crews made up the gear and whilst this was occurring, the cow, obviously deciding it was feeling much better, got up! To ensure it didn’t end up back in the mud, personnel guided it back into the field.

Attending Crews
Crews from Wadebridge (two appliances), St Austell (one appliance) and Bodmin (two appliances)

Attending Officer
Station Manager Guy Herrington. Incident Commander

The individuals/watches receiving certificates for the rescue of the Jersey cow from mud at Trenant Vale, Wadebridge are;

Station Manager Guy Herrington
Response & Resilience

Green watch, 7.1 Bodmin
Represented by:
CM Phil Hoare
FF Rob Carhart

Retained personnel, 7.1 Bodmin
Represented by:
CM Terry Smith
CM Steve Hill

Green watch, 6.1 St Austell
Represented by:
FF Keith Coles

5.4 Wadebridge
Represented by:
SM Dave Bassett
CM Steve Dyke

Abbreviations used;

RSPCA= Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
CFRS=Cornwall Fire & Rescue Service
DCFO= Deputy Chief Fire Officer
GM= Group Manager
SM= Station Manager
WM= Watch Manager
CM= Crew Manager
FF= FireFighter
IC= Incident Commander
IM= Incident Manager