Lincolnshire firefighter Neil Woodmansey and Colin the rescue dog, back in training with ISAR on returning from helping survivors of the Moroccoan earthquake.
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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.