Hero firefighters rescue man on beach
How wonderful is this? Last week an elderly gentlemen was walking his dog on Morecombe sands. If you know Morecombe sands you will understand that it is a foolhardy thing to do, as there is a lot of quicksand there and it can be lethal. I don’t know if the gent in question was local, if he was he should have known better. Anyway, he became stuck in the quick-sand, which I can only imagine how terrifying it must have been for him. Luckily someone on the promenade saw him in distress and called for the coastguard, which that in itself lost valuable time as the coastguard is usually for sea borne difficulties. Soon the fire service came and walked out to help the man. However, they couldn’t get closer than 2 metres from him because of the sinking sands, and the man was getting colder and more distressed by the minute, it was absolutely terrifying. As the tide came in, and it comes in so fast on that part of the coast, I really thought it was going to end in tragedy, but the firefighters were magnificent. They lay boards over the sand and a firefighter crawled across to the man who was by now up to his chest in the quicksand and in a lot of distress. Also the tide was now only about 10 minutes from reaching him. By now a crowd had gathered close by and the TV and newspaper cameras were there as well. I have never seem anything so brave in all my life, the firefighter could so easily have come to grief as well, but fortunately they did get the old chap out in time. He was in a very bad way but the paramedics said he should be OK. This to me is just another reason as to why we should treasure our rescue services and give them the respect and recompense they deserve. Now if anyone asks me if the firefighters of this country deserve a pay increase I just think of how easily that old man could have died if they had not persisted in cold and treacherous conditions. I know I wouldn’t have been so brave, would you?
