Gormire Rescue

Thursday 30th July 2020. After a slight lull since our busy mid-July period we had another call-out – our second rescue at Gormire Lake this summer. We were contacted by the Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust at 3.49pm to assist with a woman who had been injured after falling whilst walking with friends & family near to the lake which is below Sutton Bank. 

Team members were deployed together with one of our Land Rover ambulances. The location was on one of the steep paths that leads down from Sutton Bank and Whitestone Cliff. The woman was treated by the ambulance crew and Team members for a broken right ankle. Once that was stabilised we lifted her onto one of our specialist mountain rescue stretchers and carried her approximately 200m downhill towards the lake and then another 500m through the woods to the waiting ambulance. She was then transported to hospital for further treatment.

This was quite an arduous rescue on difficult, hilly terrain in humid conditions in the woods, with Team members wearing PPE and waterproof layers in compliance with our COVID-19 procedures. 19 Team members (and 2 dealing with the call-out remotely), plus others on standby, were involved in the incident which lasted approximately 3 hours. The Team Land Rover was then taken to our Base and decontaminated along with the equipment used taking another hour or so for some members.