Mother of girl saved by Dorset firefighters hits out at closures
Lila-Claire Lambert was just six years old when a car crash on the A37 at Holywell Cross almost took her life October 29, 2022. She was in her family car with mum Carla, dad Tom and younger brother Charlie as they travelled back from Dorchester to their home in Yeovil before tragedy struck. After sliding off the road and hitting a tree, the Lambert's family car was then hit by another car which left Carla and Lila-Clare trapped inside.
Firefighters from Maiden Newton - whose station is under threat of closure - were first on scene and without their swift actions, Carla says her daughter would not be alive today. Carla herself suffered a bruised lung, while her husband shattered his knee. Charlie, who was five at the time, had minor injuries.
She would be dead without their actions. She added: "She was in a coma and at the hospital, they told me to say goodbye, but she had other plans." Lila, who is now 10-years-old, lives with a traumatic brain injury and struggles cognitively but Carla said she is now "running, laughing and having fun".
Carla finds it hard to talk about the crash, and Lila-Claire's recovery, but says it is important to her as she cannot believe the fire station at Maiden Newton could close. "When I heard they might close the station, I just thought it was ludicrous," she said. "It's got to be a no-brainer to keep it - it needs to be there. It is a long way from other stations and it covers a big and dangerous area."
Her story is a powerful reminder of how important community on-call fire stations are and why closing them could put lives at risk. Under current proposals, Maiden Newton is one of eight stations at risk of closure across Dorset & Wiltshire as the fire service looks to plug a ?1.2 million black hole in its finances. A campaign has been launched by the local communities in Maiden Newton and Charmouth to help save the stations and a public consultation is underway on the closures until Friday, May 15.
The Fire Authority is set to make a final decision on proposed closures on June 30. 
Mr Elliott, who is also the station's Fire and Rescue Service Association representative, explained how his crew jumped into action and saved Lila-Claire's life. "We were called to a road traffic collision with a six-year-old female in cardiac arrest, he said. "When we arrived, Lila-Claire was effectively dead on the side of the road.
She was not breathing, she had no detectable pulse." 
We were able to find a way to get oxygen to her. It wasn't easy because of her injuries - it wasn't a standard 'just stick a mask on'. "We had to improvise a little bit.
But we were able to get her the oxygen she needed. She received good-quality CPR from professional rescuers that were close to hand." He added: "We have had it on very good authority from both the first paramedic on scene but also from the surgeon that treated her that if we hadn't been on scene as quickly as we were, she would not have survived that incident."
Mr Elliott said it took his crew 11 minutes to get from Maiden Newton to the crash site and reiterated that "if anyone ever needed any proof that minutes matter, then Lila-Claire is that proof."
The firefighters have since met up with Lila-Claire on several occasions and said it was "wonderful to see her and to be able to talk to her about it." and described her as a "lovely individual".
To take part in the public consultation on fire station closures visit: www.dwfire.org.uk/about-us/your-fire-and-rescue-service/proposed-station-closures/[1]
References
- ^ www.dwfire.org.uk/about-us/your-fire-and-rescue-service/proposed-station-closures/ (www.dwfire.org.uk)