A GRAYSHOTT firefighter was badly injured and had to be rescued from his own fire engine when it crashed just outside the village while responding to an emergency callout last Thursday.

Three other members of the five-strong crew were also injured but managed to escape from the vehicle when it collided with a tree on a bend just after The Waggoner’s Wells turning in Headley Road, at around 12.40pm.

After being cut out of his vehicle, the firefighter, who has not been named, was airlifted to Southampton General Hospital to be treated for a dislocated pelvis and a broken leg. His three colleagues were taken by ambulance to the Royal Surrey County Hospital and treated for minor injuries.

A Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said: “The welfare of our firefighters is our absolute priority and we are liaising closely with their families and colleagues to support them at this time. We really appreciate all the messages of support we have received.

“We will work closely with Hampshire Constabulary, who are leading an investigation, to establish exactly what happened in this incident.

“The incident in Bordon, the Grayshott appliance was on its way to, was dealt with by crews from Alton, with no delay, and was found to be a small fire on a hob that was out when the crews arrived. Arrangements were made to ensure no interruption to our emergency cover in Hampshire.

“Three of our firefighters have now been released from Royal Surrey County Hospital. They were all treated for minor injuries.

“One of the crew was airlifted by air ambulance to Southampton General Hospital and suffered a broken leg and dislocated pelvis, but is recovering well.

“We would like to thank our colleagues from the other emergency services for their part in helping our crew and for the members of the public who came to help our firefighters following the collision.

“We also greatly appreciate the messages of goodwill from the public that have flooded in.”

Sending best wishes to the firefighters on village website grayshott.com, Graham Duerden said: “Sometimes it takes an incident before you stop and think about those brave people who are prepared to risk their lives or livelihoods to help those in need.

“So, a big thank-you to our Grayshott firefighters and your families for your commitment and sacrifice – you are heroes amongst us – and to anyone injured in the incident today we wish you a full and speedy recovery.”

Fire engines from Haslemere and Liphook attended the incident, along with a heavy rescue unit from Basingstoke, two air ambulances, the police and other officers from all three emergency services.

Firefighters from both stations worked at the scene until around 3pm. Their first job was to cut their trapped colleague from the wreckage so he could be airlifted to hospital to undergo urgent treatment.

Haslemere crew commander Tim Readings told The Herald: “This was an unusual and challenging incident for all the personnel involved.

“Lorries are difficult to work on in a rescue situation due to their size and weight and this adds to the pressure that is endured at every road traffic collision we attend.

“My crew and I found this incident particularly difficult as we work closely with Grayhott and they are our friends. I would like to express my thanks to all those that helped us on the day, particularly the crews from Liphook and Basingstoke and my colleagues in the ambulance service and the police.

‘I wish all those involved a speedy recovery and hope to see them on duty as soon as possible.”

Sending a message of support from crew 51 via the HRFS Facebook page, firefighter Geoff Edwards said: “Pager goes, you stop whatever you are doing and respond. One thing is on your mind from then on, to drive your crew to the incident in the best time to achieve the best response you can – massive responsibility every time we turn the key. Thanks for the support from you all to us. Our thoughts go to the lads on the pump from all at 51.”

Grayshott retained fire crew is one of the services under threat as a result of a move by HFRS to save £12million in the face of central government funding reductions. Haslemere firefighters have warned there will be a damaging knock-on effect if a proposal to downgrade Grayshott and replace its current fire engine and crew with a two-man response vehicle.

Commander Readings said: “We work very closely with Grayshott and there is a big cloud hanging over them. Now we have had this bad accident with a potential impact on staff.

“These are bad times and we need to protect our frontline delivery. The Hindhead Tunnel is one of the biggest fire risks and Grayshott is one of the first pumps at the north entrance to attend any emergency callouts there.”

HFRS has conducted a risk review as part of its cost-cutting proposals, which will go before the Fire Authority next Wednesday, and a decision will be taken whether or not to conduct a three-month community consultation period, before making proposed changes next Spring.

HFRS deputy chief officer Neil Odin said “We want to face up to the facts that the demand on our services has changed significantly.

“We must adapt to serve them in the best way possible. We are looking to change our staffing structure but not looking to make any compulsory redundancies or closing any stations.

“We have 51 stations today and we will continue to have them going forward, we may just use them slightly differently to how we have in the past.”

Hampshire currently has 576 immediate response firefighters and the review proposes reducing this to 488, with the 656 on-call firefighters cut to 519.