Burns Night

It's just gone midnight, I'm listening to the calls on the radio of several people being "blued" into hospital after a bad RTC (or car-crash in normal-speak) that happened not far from me. I can't help but think that this time I'd got away with it. I still seem to be attracting all the big jobs, and somehow instead of dealing with this one, I'd been to an 80 year old with breathing problems. Safe in the knowledge that the RTC was cleared, I headed back to station to grab some much needed coffee. As usual, Control had different ideas. One of these days I'm going to find the hidden cameras that show Control just when we're making a drink...

I took one look at the call and instinct told me to ask for police to attend before I'd even set off. Three men with burns outside a local health centre. A closed health centre, of course, as it was the middle of the night, so no help from them. My sixth sense tells me this isn't some sort of hoax or just minor burns, and I can't work out why they'd be outside in a public place with such injuries.

As I approach, I can hear the screams before I can even see the patients. I pull up outside the health centre to find a shocking scene. The men were clothed in either underwear or nothing at all. They were burnt almost from head to toe. Their skin was peeling, blistered, bleeding, disfigured, and in some places just plain black. They had blackened mouths and noses, an indication that their airways could become a problem. They looked as though they had just walked out of a bombing. Not just the injuries, but the clear state of shock and fear in their faces.

They spoke no English. There were a few others about who spoke their language, but were giving me different stories as to what happened, and I decided that at this point it was fairly irrelevant. I called for back-up and said that I needed 3 ambulances, and needed them in a hurry. I knew that 8 or so had been dealing with the earlier RTC and feared that I'd be stuck for a while with no help. Luckily, there was an Urgent Care ambulance nearby. These ambulances are meant for our Green calls. The calls that don't necessarily need a full A&E emergency ambulance. The people on these are not trained to the same extent as front-line ambulances, but are nevertheless a great asset to the Ambulance Service. I'd started to put burns dressings on the patients, but outnumbered three seriously ill people to one Paramedic, I was struggling. They had a patient on board, yet one of the staff on the UC ambulance came over and offered to help, an offer that was gratefully accepted and that I once again thank them for.

Police arrived and stood there shocked. After a few minutes another FRU and two ambulances arrived. I sent the most seriously injured of the three in the first ambulance, and they headed directly for a specialist burns unit. The other two were taken to nearer hospitals after the third ambulance had arrived a few minutes later still, and then transferred out later to burns units as well. The extra pairs of hands were able to do things like sort out pain relief and fluids which I could never had done on my own. Being a single responder means dealing with the most immediate needs and then working down from there.

It also meant that once the ambulances had left I was left to assess what was almost a surreal scene. The chaos and carnage had been replaced by calm and police questions. There was no evidence of the dozens of burns dressings that I'd used. No sign of the horrific injuries that I'd just witnessed. No reminder of the initial feeling of concern that I'd be unable to cope.

Just time for a quick reflection that, clearly, I'd missed out on the RTC for a reason...