Two members of the watch sustained broken bones in the crash and remain off work. Three others sustained cuts and bruises and returned to duties with the rest of their watch yesterday.
The five injured men were stood down and had to immediately return home before being checked over in hospital.
‘The incident in Sark was a little extraordinary. It was one those events that happened once in your career,’ said long-serving firefighter Shane Gaudion, who was one of the five injured crew members.
‘The four people who were left had to step up even more as they were effectively doing the work meant for nine crew members.’
Mr Gaudion, a member of green watch, said the crew members had been given several days off since the incident, which carried over from Friday into Saturday. ‘Mentally you are just thinking over and over again what could have happened.’
He said that they had been grateful for supportive contacts and messages from the community.
‘The messages I received I did not expect them at all, just random ones from group chats or on Facebook, they meant a lot to me after what had happened, there is something amazing about that.’
Two large fires engulfed the island’s south-coast cliffs on Friday. More than 50 people, including Sark volunteers, used more than 270,000 litres of water to extinguish it.
It was the first time a major incident has ever been called by Sark Fire & Rescue Service since its inception in 1958. Firefighters tackled the two separate fires from six different points.
Watch commander Alex Clark was not injured in the accident and carried on to Little Sark to tackle the fire. They were joined by five other crew members later in the day.
‘My team members showed serious resilience to dust themselves off and get stuck in to help for a successful outcome,’ he said.
Mr Clark also praised the support of the island community over the course of the two days.
‘Water was the biggest problem there, the Sark locals were getting it from everywhere, places like the pool at Stocks Hotel.
‘When things like this happen, people come together, especially in a small island community, just like the fire service members did for us later that day when some of us had been injured.
‘When you get called out, you just do not know what you are going to be doing that day. Our families appreciate the fact that some days we will be out longer than our normal hours, but it is the beauty of the job is that everyone in this type of service is wanting to help.’
In the summer months, with more risks of fires from barbecues not being properly disposed of, littering of glass bottles and dry garden waste to being taken care of, the Fire and Rescue service has launched a campaign to make people aware of how to avoid further wildfires.
‘We currently have our campaign out this month called “Stop the spark”,’ Mr Clark said.
‘We hope it will make a big difference over here. It is just reminding people to be vigilant as a small fire could turn into something big quite quickly, like it did in Sark.’
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