First aid at air festival incident

Five people, including two children, were treated and taken to hospital by St John Ambulance Suffolk last week after an incident at the Lowestoft Seafront Air Festival.  

Some 17 spectators were treated in total when a fuel line burst at the RAF display stand, spraying fuel. Five were subsequently taken to hospital by members of St John Ambulance Suffolk, who have been providing first aid cover for the two day event.

Injuries included burns from unleaded petrol and the first crews from St John Ambulance were on the scene within two minutes, deploying 15 members, three paramedics and one doctor.

A team of over 50 volunteers were in attendance at the Air Festival along with four ambulances, three first aid units, two response units, a mini bus and a communications unit who were on standby to deal with such events or casualties.

The team treated 50 casualties, with a large number of these suffering from heat exhaustion, due to the soaring temperatures.

In addition, a teenager was electrocuted and suffered minor injuries after an incident believed to have happened at the amusement arcade area.

Tony Curd, County Commander of St John Ambulance Suffolk, said:‘The Lowestoft Air Festival is one of the major public events covered by our volunteers. 

‘Our role is to ensure that the public have a safe and enjoyable day, with the reassuring presence of our personnel on hand in the event of any emergency.

Although the incident could have potentially been very serious, we are all relieved that nothing significant resulted from this and that we were on hand to provide assistance for those caught up in the incident.’

St John Ambulance Suffolk has been providing first aid support at Lowestoft Air Festival for over ten years, since the event first began in 1997.