Committee for Lorne: Lorne CFA Brigade Members awarded citation for courage

On Sunday the 30th of April 2017 at 1.34am, the Lorne Fire Brigade was paged to an INCIC1 “Assist with rescue Point Grey – Lorne”.

Lorne Fire Brigade were the first emergency services on scene, as Ambulance Victoria were at Anglesea conducting a patient transfer and Victoria Police were also in Torquay.

The incident was further determined to be a 25-year-old male who had fallen into the water from the end of the Lorne Pier as a result of a medical event. On arrival, the first crew on Lorne Tanker 1, consisting of First Lieutenant Lee Hollmer, Second Lieutenant Neil Hillard and Fire fighter Sam Tipping, found an unconscious male in the water along with two other males. The group had been fishing on the pier when the victim fell unconscious into the water. The friends had thrown a life ring from the pier into the water, and then entered the water to assist. On the brigade’s arrival they found the two males who had entered the water also required assistance as they were not strong swimmers and began to suffer from hypothermia. The crew believe these friends were only a short time from becoming victims themselves. The victim had now been in the water for some time and the brigade members quickly identified the seriousness of the situation.

Lieutenant Hillard, quickly gathered information from bystanders and tasked them to assist. Lieutenant Hollmer removed his Fire Fighting clothing and entered the dark, cold water over 7 metres below the pier deck and with the assistance of two
other males in wetsuits who also entered the water, they helped the victim’s friends from the water via the ladder on the pier and then helped Lieutenant Hollmer keep the patient’s head above water.

The crew were unable to lift the unconscious patient via the ladder on the pier due the height of the pier above the water line and they determined the best course of action was to use a rope and tow the victim and rescuers along the pier to the edge of the shore, approximately 100 metres. This “thinking outside the square” decision was to prove critical in saving the life of the victim. This was not an easy task for either the people in the water or on the pier. The difficulty for Lieutenant Hollmer was in hanging onto the rope, whilst trying to keep the victim’s head above the water in a large swell. Lieutenant Hillard and Firefighter Tipping had the task of hauling the four people in the water, which included the unconscious victim, at least a hundred metres along the pier to the shore.

On getting the victim to the shore it was discovered he was wearing two pairs of pants and several jumpers to keep warm while fishing and this additional clothing was weighing him down.

The other brigade members who arrived later, then assisted the Ambulance Victoria crew who were waiting on the shore with first aid and resuscitation. The patient was placed in a medically induced coma and transported to Geelong Hospital in a critical condition. He was discharged four days later, walking from the hospital; an amazing outcome considering the circumstances.

The victim was in the water for over 30 minutes and the Ambulance crew who attended did not expect the victim to survive. He had swallowed a lot of water and was also suffering hypothermia with a very low body temperature. Ambulance crews spent some time resuscitating the victim before transporting him via road as the atmospheric conditions were not suitable for the air ambulance.

The crew on Lorne tanker 1 were faced with an event outside of their normal training as firefighters but adapted their knowledge, conducted a risk assessment and took swift action which resulted in the saving of a life.

The leadership and decision making of Lieutenant Hillard, along with the bravery of Lieutenant Hollmer to enter the water placing himself at risk and the actions of the crew have been recognised by being awarded the Chief Officer’s Unit Citation for courage.