GRAHAM Buckle was woken at 6.15am by a phone call. It was his control room. They told him to get to Great Heck as fast as he could. He was in his car within minutes.

Racing through the snow towards the tiny village, the assistant divisional fire officer had no idea what he would find when he arrived.

"I didn't twig how bad it was straight away," he said. "When I got to Great Heck it was snowing, dark, but it was really quiet."

His first job was to assess the scene.

"I couldn't see much. All I could hear were intermittent screams and calls for help. I looked to the left, where I saw the freight train.

"I could see that there were two carriages off but thought that it could have been worse. Then I looked over the other side of the bridge."

What confronted ADO Buckle was a hellish scene.

"Carriages were upside down," he added. "They were piled on top of each other. It was as if they had been thrown across the field. I knew I would need a lot more assistance."

More than 100 firefighters were quickly on the scene. For the fire and rescue service, it was the biggest call-out since the York Minster fire of 1984.

Putting aside the appalling images which filled his eyes, ADO Buckle worked to rescue and free the injured from the carriages.

"Instinct takes over. I tried to find someone from GNER to find out how many people were on the train. I did but I couldn't get any sense out of her. She was in total shock," he said.

"The carriages were a twisted mess. Everything was ripped up, it was twisted around and then people around that. I kept hearing mobile phones going off. It was a horrific sight.

"Imagine a carriage that weighs 20 tonnes and it has been picked up like a matchbox and ripped apart. I had never seen anything like it before. I hope I never see it again."

One year later, on the occasions he finds himself thinking of February 28, ADO Buckle still perfectly recalls the crash scene.

"It is one of those days I will never forget. It will live with me until the end of my days," he added.

"But being in the fire service, you learn to put things to the back of your mind. If you keep it in the forefront then it will take over your life. You can never move on.

"I am reflecting on it today, because of the anniversary, but I won't dwell on it. You can't."

Updated: 11:16 Thursday, February 28, 2002