Cornwall Fire & Rescue Service Newsdesk

just off the A30 near the Jamaica Inn at 16/07/2002 11:00

Yesterday firefighters from Cornwall County Fire Brigade assisted in re-enacting an incident which happened in December 1999 for the BBC programme '999'.
Other emergency services: Westcountry Ambulance Service, the Air Ambulance and Devon and Cornwall Constabulary also provided 'actors' for the filming.
The '999' programme is entitled 'THE GOLDEN HOUR' as this is what the emergency services refer to these types of incidents as. If a person is rescued and at hospital being treated within the 'hour' then they have a greater chance of survival.
This particular incident was one of those cases. The victim was involved in a serious RTA and was impaled to the front seat of the car with a wooden fence stake.
The Fire Brigade assisted in getting the patient from the car into the air ambulance as quickly as possible by cutting the wooden stake with a small hand saw and carrying him, with the paramedics, to the awaiting helicopter. The patient was on his way to Derriford within ten minutes.
The re-enactment which includes firefighters from Bodmin and Launceston will be shown on national television in the Autumn.