Ambulance crews have been praised following the house explosion in Clacton on February 5 which caused “absolute devastation”.
Critical care was given to two people following the major incident on Cloes Street, with one man needing anesthetic treatment so he could be stabilised more effectively.
The first East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST) paramedic response car arrived on scene in just over three minutes following the first 999 call at 8.27am, with the first ambulance arriving on scene just five minutes later.
In total, five ambulances, two air ambulances, the Hazardous Area Response Team (HART), and several ambulance Incident Officers went to the scene. Ten people were treated before being taken to Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford, which specialises in burns injuries, and Colchester General Hospital.
Essex resilience manager Gareth Boynton, who was at the scene, said: “It was a scene of absolute devastation. We were on scene within a matter of minutes, assessing several people who had been in the properties at the time.
“The majority suffered minor injuries but the air ambulance critical care paramedics administered advanced treatment to two of the patients, anaesthetising a man in his 70s who was airlifted to Broomfield in a life-threatening condition, and a woman in her 50s with severe burns who went to the same hospital by ambulance.
“Our HART team was able to provide search and rescue capability alongside fire and rescue service officers to check that everyone was accounted for.
“All of the emergency services worked extremely well together and I’d like to thank everyone that helped support us. We were stood down from the incident at approximately midday, and our thoughts are with all of those involved in and affected by the explosion.”
Ambulance Trust Chief Executive Dr Anthony Marsh Trust (EEAST) said: “I’m incredibly proud of all of those involved. Our crews, who were on scene extremely quickly, and our team in the control room, all worked very hard to ensure that the patients were assessed, given expert treatment, and transferred to hospital as soon as possible.
“This is a fantastic example of the emergency services working together to provide a rapid response to an incident that has affected many people.”