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Fire crew not trained to rescue woman from loch           9/4/14

 

A fire crew was forced to watch on as a flooded, crashed car with a woman inside floated across a Harris loch.

 

Firefighters were not trained to attempt a rescue, a fatal accident inquiry in Stornoway heard this week.

 

Lorna Macdonald of Cross Street, Stornoway, drowned in Loch nan Uidhean, near Horsacleit Lodge, after her vehicle careered off the road on Thursday 24 November 2011.

 

She was driving back from a visit to Leverburgh as part of her job as a speech therapist for Western Isles NHS.

 

The inquiry was previously told a green Mazda car similar to the 26-year-old’s had passed another motorist about half a mile before the loch around 3.20pm that afternoon.

 

BT engineer William Bell had said, shortly before 4pm, he spotted a vehicle, upside down in the water with only the wheels visible.

 

The Tarbert fire crew got the call at 4.13pm and were the first of the emergency services to get to the loch when they arrived at 4.23pm, said retained firefighter Chris Sutton.

 

Mr Sutton said the crew was not trained in water rescue techniques.

He recalled the OIC (officer-in-charge) saying that “we don’t know if anyone is in the car or, if there is, there is nothing we can do.”

 

Coastguards cut Lorna out when the vehicle was later pulled to the shore by ropes.

 

Ambulance technician Geoffrey Peterson previously told the inquiry Lorna was carried out of the car from the loch at 5.05pm but there was no sign of life.

 

Witnesses described the weather in the area as horrendous with heavy, gusting winds buffeting vehicles, torrential rain “coming down in sheets,” and roads covered in water.

 

A nearby council-operated roadside weather station recorded gusts up to 70mph at the time said solicitor Angus Macdonald.

 

Solicitor Angus Macdonald suggested Lorna’s employer, Western Isles NHS Board, failed to give proper written advice for lone staff out in severe weather.

 

Mr Macdonald referred to evidence from Lorna’s manager, Christine Lapsley, who had told the inquiry there were no written risk assessment or procedures for lone working or home visits in severe weather. Ms Lapsley stressed the risks were discussed verbally at regular meetings.

 

Jennifer Porteous, the health board’s human resources director, agreed with sheriff David Sutherland there should be written records of risk assessments.

 

Ms Porteous also agreed with the sheriff it was up to managers to minimise the risk to staff in inclement weather.

 

The inquiry has been adjourned and, on Thursday, sheriff David Sutherland will set a new date for it to recommence.