The Belling, Kielder Water

A family had been walking around the Belling peninsula near to the dam at Kielder Water when the bank at the edge of water collapsed. One of the party fell 5-6 feet into the water and onto rocks, sustaining a lower leg injury. With the injured party out of the water but unable to weight bear, the family rang 999 asked for the Police and Mountain Rescue. The two Mountain Rescue Teams swiftly mobilised three 4×4 blue light response vehicles and our volunteers to rendezvous at the Kielder Dam car park.

When the first members arrived, they were immediately deployed to the incident site to work alongside the North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust Community Paramedic to assess requirements. As soon as the response vehicles arrived, the vital rescue equipment and additional members headed to the same site to prepare for the evacuation.

The injured party was then wrapped in a Blizzard Protection Systems blanket and a warm casualty bag before being packaged onto a lightweight Titan stretcher with a wheel. The stretcher evacuation then commenced along a narrow and muddy footpath with plenty of trip hazards along the way. After a 500m stretcher carry up to the North Haul road, the casualty was handed over to the double crewed ambulance for onward transport to hospital.

At this point our resources stood down from the Kielder incident and those who were available travelled across Northumberland to the Harthope valley to the second incident.

The NEAS Hazardous Area Response Team with their Polaris also deployed to the incident but they were stood down when it was confirmed access to the incident site was not possible in a vehicle.

The incident involved 15 Team members for 2 hours 40 minutes.