A PENSIONER is fighting for her life after an accident involving a firefighter medic who was responding to an emergency call.
Police and fire chiefs are probing the incident, which involved a Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service co-responder and a car being driven by a 72-year-old Southampton woman.
Co-responders are specially-trained firefighters who are called to the scene of potentially life-threatening incidents.
Their job is to administer emergency first aid to the casualty until the ambulance arrives.
The fire service employee was answering an emergency call when his marked vehicle was in collision with a Peugeot 306 in Fawley Road, Hythe.
The Peugeot driver was trapped in the wreckage and had to be cut free by some of the co-responder’s fellow firefighters. She was taken to Southampton General Hospital, where her condition is described as critical.
Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service said an ambulance crew dealt with the original emergency. A fire service spokesman confirmed an investigation had been launched into the crash and refused to divulge any information about the firefighter, who was unhurt. He is understood to be based at either Hythe or Hardley fire station.
“The co-responder was responding to an emergency in Hythe at the time of the incident,” said the spokesman.
“Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service takes incidents involving staff very seriously, and will be investigating this matter in conjunction with Hampshire Constabulary.”
Details of the original emergency are being withheld on the grounds of patient confidentiality.
However, the Daily Echo has been told the patient’s care was unaffected by any delays caused by the crash, which occurred last Saturday.
Anyone who saw what happened is asked to ring PC Lara Montgomery at Totton Roads Policing Unit on 101, quoting Operation Longship.
