Neil Woodmansey and Colin the rescue dog
Lincolnshire firefighter Neil Woodmansey and Colin the rescue dog, back in training with ISAR on returning from helping survivors of the Moroccoan earthquake.
Transcript
00:00 [Dogs barking]
00:28 Okay so we've got Neil and Colin the search and rescue dog here after your
00:34 return from Morocco and can you tell me a little bit what you had to do
00:39 out there as a team?
00:41 Yeah well we landed in Morocco and we set up our what we call base of operations, our boot
00:47 and then straight away we headed up into the mountains. The villages in the top of the mountains, that area,
00:54 had had no support, no rescue. So our primary role was to get there and to aid the people
01:01 high up in the mountains. Yeah it was a tough journey, obviously going up the mountains
01:08 in the transport, moving boulders, getting there. It took us about five, six hours and
01:14 when we finally got there our primary role was search and rescue. Unfortunately we didn't
01:19 find anybody alive up there in the collapse, it's a landslide. But then our primary role
01:25 then is to support things like first aid, lots of people with some nasty breakages,
01:31 cuts, abrasions. So yeah we carry doctors, we have paramedics in the team, we're all
01:38 basic first aid. So yeah we just helped where we could basically.
01:43 So did Colin have much work to do then under the circumstances?
01:47 Yeah we still did the search and rescue, there's always hope. So yeah Colin's job basically
01:54 was to search the whole village, we spent quite some hours. Like I say unfortunately
02:00 Colin's on live set. I think the first village we went to there was something like about
02:06 100 persons missing. But the construction of the buildings and the landslide, unfortunately
02:13 we weren't successful in actually finding anybody under the rubble. But like I say we
02:21 made a difference hopefully with our first aid skills. Yeah just trying to point people
02:28 down where we could.
02:30 And you said that occasionally you started with repairing somebody's broken leg or something
02:38 like that and then you had a whole queue of people behind you as well, is that right?
02:41 Yeah we went into one village and the acid would assist with an elderly lady who had
02:47 a broken leg. So we went into the tent and we did what we could there, splintered it
02:53 and basic. And then when we came out there was quite a queue of people there with the
03:00 wound they'd carried. And then when we got out it ended up being, we stayed there quite
03:06 some hours again doing what we could with our basic first aid skills.
03:12 And I understand there were quite a few aftershocks. Did you ever have to take cover as it were
03:18 or was anybody injured or hit or anything like that?
03:22 No, no. I've been to a few earthquakes now and the aftershocks they do keep you alert.
03:29 Going up the mountains was a little bit worrying because there's lots of boulders and the
03:35 potential you've got nowhere to run when you're in the trouble of the mountains. But
03:42 yeah, we went out there and we all came back safely so it was a good result.
03:47 And how did Colin cope with it all this time?
03:50 Yeah, he just loves his job. So when he goes there and when he's searching the villages
03:58 for Colin it's just one big playground for him. And yeah, he's just proud. He's a cracking
04:04 little sage dog. I mean a little bit mad. He's a bit of a character when it comes to
04:09 search and rescue.
04:11 And obviously it was a lot hotter this time than maybe the time before when you went to
04:17 Turkey with Colin, is it?
04:19 Yeah, it was very hot. But again, that's what we're trained for kind of thing. You go there
04:27 and you deal with the situation. Like I say, it's my fifth earthquake, Colin's second.
04:33 So between us, we've got a little bit of experience.
04:36 Yeah. And no plans to retire either of you yet then?
04:42 No, I must admit the team do keep reminding me that I'm not a spring chicken anymore.
04:48 I don't know, I'm liking the old dog as I sit.
04:52 And the younger one as well.
04:54 Yeah, he's got a little bit more energy than me but together we know they can man too.
04:59 Brilliant, thank you.