Consultant In Crisis

Kelly could see the piece of twisted steel, its rust largely covered by the orange spray paint. She could also see the overhang of the concrete slab above her head to the left. The weight of rubble on top of the slab made it dangerous to get close to. Kelly didn’t need reminding of the potential for aftershocks following the earthquake that had caused these buildings to collapse in the first place. Even a small tremor now could make precariously balanced debris a very real danger for the rescue team.

The careful spacing of the line of rescuers needed to be modified to accommodate the danger of the overhang. That meant that she and Fletch would have to increase the distance between them considerably. Kelly took a deep breath and began to move, remembering to kept three points of contact with the debris at all times. One foot, one hand, the other foot and then the final handhold. One more repetition should take her to her new position well to the right of the overhang. And Neil Fletcher would be well to the left. At least three metres away from her this time.

‘Rescue team above. Can you hear me?’

Kelly could barely hear Jessica’s voice at the far end of the line as the new series of calls began. With no hope of hearing any response from this distance it was all too easy to let her concentration lapse again.

How could she have been so confident that crossing paths with Fletch would make no difference? That first day of the USAR training course had dispelled that confidence big time. The first thirty minutes had been almost unbearable. Having entered the classroom, Kelly had almost turned on her heel and walked out again. It had been so totally unexpected, seeing Fletch sitting there. The shock had taken her breath away, left her completely numb for a split second, and then a horrible sensation like pins and needles had travelled through her whole body. Her fingers and toes had still been tingling as she’d eased herself onto the nearest available chair. Talk about someone walking across your grave. Someone resembling King Kong had just landed on hers with steel-capped boots.

‘Nothing heard.’ The voice was much closer now. It must be Fletch’s turn again. Unconsciously, Kelly braced herself for the sound of his voice.

‘Rescue team above. Can you hear me?’

Kelly could hear echoes of his voice in the silence. Echoes sending fingers reaching into her past that could retrieve memories she’d thought she’d buried as effectively as this debris had buried its victims. Memories of passion. Of hopes and dreams that had seemed so achievable. Of a pain that hadn’t been worth risking again. Did Fletch feel any of it? Kelly willed herself not to turn and stare at him. Of course he didn’t. After the anger that her abrupt departure had, no doubt, generated he’d probably been relieved when she’d left. He’d never tried to contact her, had he? Never bothered to ask why she’d just posted back the engagement ring.

‘I can hear something!’ The excitement in Fletch’s voice jarred Kelly into focusing. Had she been mistaken in thinking she could hear an echo of his voice? They shouldn’t be working together. Not this closely.

A murmur ran down the chain of rescuers when Fletch raised his arm to confirm his suspicion. The sound was terminated by a sharp blast of a whistle.

‘Silence on the site,’ Ross shouted to reinforce the whistle command. ‘Fletch—repeat your call.’

This time Kelly also raised her arm as she listened. Then she pointed in the direction from where she could hear the faint sound. To her left. Fletch was pointing to his right. The faint sound of someone groaning or maybe calling out was coming from just above the overhang. The line of rescuers was broken as Ross issued clear commands.

‘Joe, go up two metres and then to your left one metre. Jessica, go up one metre and then to your right one metre. Owen, see if you can move to a position a couple of metres above and between Joe and Jessica. Kyle, double check for hazards.’

Team members moved to their new positions, fatigue replaced by a sense of anticipation.

‘There’s a void in here,’ Jessica shouted. She moved a length of broken timber to reveal a triangle of clear space formed by a sheet of roofing iron resting on a ledge of rubble. ‘I think I can see someone.’ Her voice rose excitedly. ‘Hello—can you hear me?’

Kelly couldn’t hear the response clearly enough to make out the words but that didn’t detract from the sense of satisfaction. They had located a survivor.

‘Her name’s Wendy,’ Jessica relayed a minute later. ‘She’s breathing all right but can’t move her legs. She thinks she may have been unconscious for a while.’

Kyle was spraying an orange ‘V’ onto the nearest available surface.

‘Move a bit further to your left, Fletch,’ Ross instructed. ‘We don’t know what position this woman is lying in. We’ll need to start removing debris from a distance of three metres or so. Jessica, keep talking to her. Try and find out whether she knows of anyone else who may be trapped.’ Ross looked away as he turned his attention back to the whole job. ‘Fletch, Kelly and Joe, you can stay to shift rubble and provide any medical attention needed. We’ll get a Stokes basket up to you shortly. The rest of you form a new line. We need to cover the rest of this sector. As far as we know, we still have one missing person to locate.’

Clearing rubble to gain access to the void was painstaking and slow. They couldn’t risk collapsing the space the survivor was confined in and had to be careful not to make their own positions any less stable. The safety officer was supervising the operation and directing placement of larger pieces of shifted debris.

‘Watch out, Kelly! You need two people to shift that plank.’ Kyle shook his head. ‘Fletch, give her a hand, will you?’

A long blast on the whistle, calling for silence, meant that Kelly did not have to acknowledge his assistance. Jessica paused in the reassurance she was delivering to their patient and they continued with their tasks as quietly as possible as the new line and hail search got under way a little distance above and to their left.

‘Rescue team above. Can you hear me?’

New team members picked their way carefully up the disaster site, bringing with them a Stokes basket. The heavy-duty moulded plastic stretcher had handles and strap attachments along the top of its raised sides. A first-aid kit and other equipment was ferried up inside the basket.

It took twenty minutes to get close enough to actually start extricating the survivor. A change in the amount of light available to the team was an indication of both weather deterioration and approaching dusk but the teams worked on with steady determination. The line and hail search was now nearing the end of the last sector of this site. If no more victims were found they would probably have to deploy search dogs to try and locate anyone else confirmed to be missing.

‘Wendy—we’re really close now. It won’t be much longer.’ Fletch had taken over the reassurance of their patient. ‘How are you feeling?’

‘Not too bad. I’m going to be really glad to get out of here, though.’

‘Can you move or feel your legs at all now?’

‘I’m not sure.’ The sound of coughing was magnified by the sheet of iron still covering Wendy. ‘I don’t think so.’

‘Does anything hurt?’

‘No.’ Wendy coughed again. ‘This plaster dust is the worst thing. It keeps falling on my face.’

The top of the corrugated-iron sheet had been cleared of debris. As they lifted it, their patient raised her arm to shield her eyes from the light. Fletch moved closer, catching hold of Wendy’s wrist to feel for a radial pulse. Kelly knew he would be assessing her respiration at the same time and they all watched as he conducted a rapid survey to check for any obvious injuries or blood loss. ‘Let’s get a C-collar on,’ he ordered. ‘And line up the Stokes basket directly below us. We’re going to need to keep spinal alignment when we move her.’

Kelly and Joe had attended many spinal injury patients in their careers in the ambulance service but it had never been this awkward to try and immobilise and extricate them. The stretcher had to be positioned to remain stable and every move the team members made had to be planned in advance and checked to keep themselves safe as well as ensuring that any injuries to their patient weren’t exacerbated.

Once Wendy was securely strapped into the basket stretcher, the progress was still slow as the rescue team manoeuvred their burden down the slope. It took seven people to conduct the operation safely. Two people positioned themselves in front of the four people holding the stretcher basket. When all team members were secure enough to move their arms without losing their footing the stretcher was passed handhold to handhold until the two people at the back were free of the burden and now standing behind the stretcher. Then those two people moved carefully under the watchful gaze of the scout to position themselves ahead. Slowly, metre by metre, the stretcher was moved smoothly towards the base of the slope and the safety of waiting emergency service personnel.

As Kelly moved to a new position at the head of the stretcher for the fifth time she heard a shout from the team members still searching. Joe stared up the slope for a few seconds before nodding. ‘Another survivor by the look of it.’

‘Thank God for that,’ Kelly murmured. ‘I think we’ve all had enough of this for the moment.’ She shoved her hand into the slot at the head of the stretcher. The gloves made the task a lot more awkward but at least they were providing some warmth as well as protection. Her legs were freezing.

Fletch was moving behind her. ‘Why did you volunteer for USAR if you don’t like it?’

‘I didn’t volunteer, actually.’ Kelly watched Fletch reach level ground. Their task was almost complete. ‘Somebody volunteered for me.’

Joe’s eyes crinkled behind the plastic safety goggles as he grinned. ‘That’s true. She made the mistake of turning up in the boss’s office on her first day at work. I was in there, having just discovered that my intended course partner had broken his leg and wouldn’t be able to make it. Kelly had her arm twisted very thoroughly.’

‘Your friend must have heard about the course.’ Damp auburn curls were plastered against Jessica’s cheeks. She looked cold and exhausted as she changed handholds. ‘A broken leg seems like quite an attractive alternative right now.’

‘You think you’ve had it tough! This mask was useless for keeping the dust out and I thought you guys were never going to find me.’

‘You were in there for a long time.’ Kelly gazed back at the mountain of debris as they lowered the stretcher to the level ground. ‘Rather you than me, Wendy. Did you see any rats?’

‘Rats!’ Dark blue eyes widened dramatically behind the safety goggles. ‘Nobody said anything about there being rats around here.’

Joe was unclipping the straps that held Wendy securely in the Stokes basket. ‘It’s a rubbish tip,’ he reminded her. ‘Rubbish tips are always full of rats.’

‘OK, that does it.’ Wendy sat up and lifted her goggles to sit on the brim of her helmet. She pulled the dust mask to hang below a small but determined chin. ‘I resign. I’m not going to be a patient again. One of you lot can do it next time.’

‘But you’re so nice and light,’ Kelly said. ‘Imagine if we had to cart Joe down a hill. It would be a killer. He must weigh three times as much as you.’

‘It’s all muscle,’ Joe protested.

‘It’s discrimination,’ Wendy declared. ‘And I’m going to take a stand. Short people shouldn’t get picked on.’ Her grin was disarming. ‘Not while there’s rats around, anyway.’

Ignoring the hand Fletch was extending to help her, Wendy steadied the stretcher by holding the sides, stood up quickly and then straightened to her full height of barely more than five feet. Fletch and Joe both towered over her and were grinning broadly. Wendy looked away, her eyes narrowing thoughtfully at the sight of the approaching figure.

‘I know. Let’s bury Kyle next time.’