Free Everything to Live For: The Inspirational Story of Turia Pitt by Turia Pitt Page A

now everyone on the ridge knew ambulance medics were on the way and the second helicopter was coming from Kununurra.
    The ridge had become crowded and it was decided to take Michael and Martin downhill and set up an evacuation point near Mary, where they could wait for transport out.
    Nathan Summers, who was also on the ridge with Nathan Tomlinson, knew Paul was an experienced pilot and that if he thought it possible he might try to attempt the high-risk one-skid landing to lift the girls off. He explained to everyone on the ridge what Paul might do and the need to clear away any nearby trees. Those who were able to then set about removing small trees and loose rocks from the area.

    Once Sarel’s ambulance team reached the burnt-out part of the course, there were no more pink ribbons to guide them to the incident site and they were not sure which way to go. As none of them knew the course, they bumped along blindly when out of the blue, John Storey appeared above them in his gyrocopter; he had heard about the injured competitors over his radio and flown across to see if he there was anything he could do, even though he couldn’t land. As he flew over the burnt-out valley John saw the two ambulance vehicles and realised they could do with some guidance: he then circled very low, indicating for them to follow him.
    They drove through the rough and blackened landscape until they came across a big four-wheel drive at the bottom of the cliff and a group of people, one of whom was Mary Gadams; they pointed up the cliff of the gorge, where Sarel saw another group of people halfway up. Two ambulance volunteers stayed to give assistance to Mary. Sarel, Dr Waite and one volunteer medic set off to the ridge with medical supplies.
    On their way up they encountered Trent, Wade and Shaun assisting Michael and Martin down. Sarel noted that Michael had bleeding legs and Martin was bleeding from the head; he introduced himself as a paramedic. Shaun, recognising the South African accent, spoke to him briefly in Afrikaans, expressing relief that at last someone was there to help. Sarel was then waved on up: ‘We’re alright – they need you up there.’
    When Sarel arrived, Dr Brahm told him she had been unsuccessful in getting an IV line into Turia. Sarel, who had brought additional IV fluid, also tried but had no success either. 2 He administered intra-nasal analgesia to both women, who remained calm but whom he knew must be in shock, if not in pain. His assessment was that even though both had extensive full thickness burns whereby pain was unlikely to be felt due to the destruction of their nerve endings, pain would be severe in any possible areas of second-degree burns where nerve endings would still be receptive to pain.
    When ambulance volunteer Bonny arrived on the ridge, soon after Sarel, she surveyed the scene and went to assist him with Turia. She looked at Turia but didn’t recognise her friend.
    ‘Hi, Bonny. It’s me, Turia.’
    Bonny looked more closely; horrified at what she saw, she started to cry. It was then Turia knew things must be serious. Although she was quite numb with shock, she’d looked at her hands and noted only that her fingers looked slightly swollen. The inner Turia was saying, ‘It’s just a little burn. I’ll be back at work on Monday.’
    Paul and Bryn arrived at the location and flew over the vast burnt-out area at 4.50 pm. They spotted Summers’ helicopter in a small unburnt clearing, saw several other vehicles, and located the group on the ridge with their silver space blankets spread out. As they flew nearer they saw that a small area had been cleared and that Summers was positioned to help guide them in from the ground if they decided to attempt a one-skid landing.
    ‘Shall we give it a go?’ Paul asked.
    ‘Worth a try,’ Bryn answered.
    As Paul set up the approach, he instructed Summers that only two people could be lifted off at a time; this was due to weight issues for the manoeuvre.