00:00 One of the most difficult decisions I made on that day, along with my colleagues from
00:07 the ambulance service and also the police service as well, was the decision to move
00:12 from that there was saveable life, so search and rescue, to it was unlikely that if there
00:19 was anybody else in the water that they would be saveable.
00:26 In an emergency situation like what happened here at Babs Mill Lake a year ago, every moment
00:31 counts towards saving lives. When Finn, Jack, Sam and Thomas' bodies hit the water, they
00:36 would have gone into cold shock, with the cold water draining their body temperature
00:40 four times as quickly as cold air. Highly trained and kitted out, first responders leapt
00:46 into action.
00:47 What was that sort of emergency response like? A lot of praise for the fire service and the
00:52 police as well, and the ambulance service of course.
00:54 Yeah, I mean, you know, we were getting regular updates from the fire brigade were really
00:59 leading on the incident in the main part after the police had arrived. You know, they were
01:05 really good at sending updates, you know, the photographs just told the story really.
01:10 I mean, there were so many firemen, you know, working throughout the night.
01:15 Even on a day like today, windy and cold, it's difficult to imagine just how freezing
01:20 the lake behind me must have been, both for the boys who fell in and the emergency services
01:24 staff who sought to save them. Rescue teams heroically went against medical advice, made
01:30 their own risk assessment and formed a human chain from the bank of the lake across the
01:35 treacherous ice to try and reach the location where it was thought the boys had gone under.
01:40 When we started to piece together what the initial crews had done, you know, we recognised
01:45 that whilst the public may have, you know, and rightly so, an expectation that emergency
01:52 service workers will place themselves at risk, you know, when attending an incident, that
01:57 what the crews did, the initial crews that went into the water did that day, went beyond
02:03 what that expectation would be.
02:06 After the incident, 14 police officers were handed bravery awards and 15 firefighters
02:11 were awarded Chief Fire Officer's Commendations. But along with the awards on the shelf, those
02:15 involved also carry with them pain at the outcome.
02:19 People sometimes see the uniform and think that that's sort of a blocker to any sort
02:23 of emotional connection you might have to that incident and the impact. But the reality
02:29 is all emergency service workers, myself and the crews, we're only human at the end of
02:34 the day and we still go home to families and friends, you know, and have the same feelings
02:39 as everybody else.
02:40 Amid a sea of tributes for the boys and for their families, came an outpouring of praise
02:46 for those who spent gruelling hours trying to save them. Senior Coroner Louise Hunt said
02:51 she was satisfied emergency services did their utmost, that treatment in hospital was good
02:56 and everyone did all they could and should be commended for their actions.
03:00 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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