EC135 - day/night/all weather capability, a large cabin with room for more than one stretcher, the ability to get in and out of difficult sites without needing to comply with Cat A procedures and a winch. Is that enough?
Your paramedics did very well but I suspect not all of them are as brave as those 2 - it's not exactly in their job spec to fight fires and rescue people is it? At least our winchmen are used to operating in hazardous situations and they are trained in post crash management and can advise the fire service when they are getting it wrong.
Tees - I am only arguing that the most appropriate asset should do the job. In an ideal world, all heli assets in the UK would be tasked through a central control but, as I have said before, when an ambulance authority has a helo it feels the need to use it for every callout regardless of patient need. If I had a pound for every casualty lifted from the beaches of North Devon by the AA that has to fly from Exeter, overhead Chivenor, to get there - leaving the cas waiting for up to an hour while there is a SAR helo 2 mins away.........
If this Gazelle had been in a slightly more difficult location, they would have had to wait for the AA to turn up, realise they couldn't assist and then have the SAR ac tasked; it could already be on the way. Or if both casualties had needed immediate evacuation on stretchers the SAR ac could have provided backup to the AA.