Training Days: School Bus Accident

By Tom Kiurski

In a previous article, I discussed how our department performed a bus extrication training evolution. We found several buses after making a few stops and telephone calls. We used all the buses we needed for our extrication training but kept the nicest bus aside for future use. We decided to take the previous bus extrication training, throw in a dozen injured school students, and mix it all in with a car “crashed” into the side of the bus.

We began the scenario planning process by talking to the staff at a local high school that has a performing arts curriculum. The staff and students were excited to help mock up and act out injuries.

 

Our local towing company was able to find the perfect crashed-up car for our scenario. The vehicle had significant front-end damage, and it would be positioned to block the main bus entry/exit door.

 

With the help of our smoke machine, we simulated a fire in the car. Our vehicle fire standard operating procedure requires a crew in full personal protective equipment to handle that situation. To further complicate the issue, a mannequin was placed on its side on the front seat of the car. Too often, bodies are overlooked during car fires, so this would help emphasize the importance of the search.

 

 As supporting documentation, a fire department made the news just a month prior to our training day, having been criticized for leaving a note in the door of a house indicating that the occupants’ car  had been on fire and was extinguished. The note told the occupants to call their insurance company to work out the details. The family saw the note from the fire department on the door of their home and then found a suicide note on the kitchen table. You all know the rest of this story.

The students were briefed on their injuries. Cards were made up for them that described their vital signs, which they then could give the firefighters when vitals were taken. The injuries were explained to the students, along with coaching tips on how they might act under the circumstances. The moulage was left in the able hands of students and staff, who made the injuries look real.

(1) Take one donated bus, block the main door with a crashed car, mix in some smoke, add some screaming moulaged high school students, and you have the makings of a great drill. (Photo by author.)

Once the
training session began, screaming school bus students added to the confusion of the vehicle fire. Crews faced restricted bus access. As the incident unfolded, help was called early on, and triage took place as the incident command system was placed into action. 

 

The students had a wide variety of injuries, so setting up a treatment and transport area was a primary concern for an incident of this size. In our scenario, once a transporting EMS unit was ordered to a hospital, a stopwatch was started. The crew went to the edge of the parking lot and allowed the student to leave the unit and observe the rest of the incident; the EMS unit and crew were allowed to take part in the exercise after a 10-minute “time out.” This was calculated as the amount of time it might take for the crew to drive to the hospital, drop off the patient in a situation like this, and return to once again help out.

 

We were all aware that this was a training session, but the screaming students, the smoke in the car, and the access/exit challenge pumped our crews up to give a fantastic effort at this exercise. The amount of time needed to set it up was well worth the training gained. We did not forget to reward the students with their own copies of the local newspaper that did a photo story about the event and a certificate of appreciation signed by the fire chief and myself.

 

Tom Kiurski is training coordinator, a paramedic, and the director of fire safety education for Livonia (MI) Fire & Rescue. His book, Creating a Fire-Safe Community: A Guide for Fire Safety Educators (Fire Engineering, 1999), is a guide for bringing the safety message to all segments of the community efficiently and economically.