Simonside Forest

Incident Type: Rescue

The busy spell for both teams continued this week with the first of two incidents taking place yesterday afternoon.

At approximately 2.00pm on Wednesday, ourselves and North of Tyne Mountain Rescue Team were deployed to assist the North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust following a call for help in Simonside Forest.

A woman out walking with her partner had fallen and sustained a painful upper leg injury, leaving her unable to walk. Due to the remote and inaccessible location, the attending Community Paramedic requested Mountain Rescue support.

Using PhoneFind and local knowledge, the casualty’s location was confirmed on a rough forest track near Little Church Rock. Team members and three team vehicles were quickly mobilised from multiple locations, with blue light authorisation granted due to the nature of the terrain and the likely need for a stretcher evacuation.

After assessing the scene, a stretcher party was deployed. The injured walker was safely carried to a location accessible by ambulance and handed over to NEAS for onward transport to hospital.

Thanks to all our volunteers and NEAS colleagues for a smooth, well-coordinated response. We wish the casualty a swift recovery.

The incident involved 14 Team members for 3 hours 1 minute.