May 19, 2008 - Bus Wreck and Transfer - U.S. Route 15 and New Oxford Fire Company

     Go Back     > News

The New Oxford Fire Company would like to thank the West York Ambulance for covering our firehouse while 13A and 13A-1 were on a bus wreck on U.S. Route 15.

Other photos courtesy of:
http://www.gettysburgfd.com/recentcalls.html
http://www.eveningsun.com/ci_9321207?IADID=Search-www.eveningsun.com-www.eveningsun.com


Bus MCI on US 15
May 19, 2008

Just before 1737 hours, Chief Kime was traveling southbound on US 15 in his privately owned vehicle when he witnissed a motor vehicle accident--a northbound tour bus crossing over the soutbound lanes and coming to rest on its side.
The Chief immediately pulled over as passengers began to self extricate and notified communications, requesting a vehicle accident response plus 9 additional BLS units, additional ALS and notification to area hospitals.
Units soon responded and began arriving on scene at 1746. Deputy Knerr arrived and assumed command with Firefighter/Paramedic Fishburne assigned to the EMS Group as the leader. Triage began as BLS units began to arrive on scene, lining up in the southbound lanes to transport.
Rescue 1 and Engine 1-1 checked the bus for hazards and assisted with EMS. Assistant Chief Baldwin arrived and established staging, coordinating the transport units. Service 1 also responded with additional personnel and backboards to the scene. In total 5 patients were transported to Hershey, 14 to Gettysburg by ambulance and another 25 to Gettysburg by bus. The scene was marked controlled at 1820 with all patients transported and units returned to service at 1906.
Units on the scene included:
Rescue 1 (w/ 5), Engine 1-1 (w/ 5), Service 1 (w/ 4), Duty Vehicle (w/ 3, Assistant 1), Deputy 1, Chief 1
1A, 1A1, 6A, 6A1, 7A, 8A, 13A, 13A1, 19A, 20A, 20A1, 29A
M 28-1, M 28-2, York M 46 (placed in service prior to arrival), York M 98 (placed in service prior to arrival)

Bus flips on Route 15; More than 40 hurt
By ERIN JAMES and KATHARINE HARMON
For The Evening Sun
Article Launched: 05/20/2008 10:50:23 AM EDT


A carousel of screaming ambulances transformed Route 15 near Gettysburg into a racing strip for emergency vehicles Monday.
Ambulances from every corner of Adams County pulled up to a makeshift starting line, just feet from where a charter bus carrying middle-school students and their chaperones had overturned on an embankment.
Emergency workers quickly loaded injured passengers into the vehicles. And as if a gun had signaled their turn to race, one by one the ambulances took off south - most in the direction of Gettysburg Hospital.
Altogether, more than 40 people were treated for non-life-threatening injuries sustained in a crash that, officials agreed, could have been much worse.
The Wolf's charter bus carrying 47
Firefighters stand near the overturned bus on Route 15 Monday. Police said the driver of the Wolf's Bus Lines coach told them a front tire on the bus blew out, causing him to lose control. The bus careened across Route 15 before turning onto its side. (Evening Sun Photo by Meghan Gauriloff)
people had been traveling north at about 5:30 p.m. when a front tire blew out. The bus crossed over the median and into southbound lanes. It collided with an embankment and came to rest on its side just south of Route 394 in Straban Township, state police at Gettysburg said.
Its passengers mostly were students from Wilson Middle School and their chaperones on their way home from Washington, D.C. A second bus carrying students and chaperones was not involved.
One man who saw the crash from a distance said the bus narrowly missed several oncoming cars.
Southbound traffic took action to avoid the out-of-control bus, said Gettysburg Fire Chief Ken Kime, who witnessed the crash.
"All I saw was a black shadow go across the road," he said. "I saw cars scattering."
Kime and other passersby stopped to help the passengers escape the overturned bus through the broken windshield. The fire chief said he immediately called 911, dispatched additional responders and began evaluating the passengers.
Kime said he spoke briefly with the bus driver, who told him a front tire had blown out and caused the crash. Police are still investigating.
The driver, who was taken to Hershey Medical Center for treatment, was injured but more "concerned" with the condition of his passengers, Kime said. Police did not release the driver's name. Wolf's Bus Line Inc., which is based in York Springs, would not comment on the incident or the driver's condition, but said company officials are cooperating with the police investigation.
Officials at the scene said 19 people were loaded into ambulances and raced to area hospitals - the five most seriously injured were sent to Hershey Medical Center and the rest went to Gettysburg Hospital.
The least injured among the group, about 25 people, were transported to the hospital last by another charter bus - a trip that was difficult for some of the students, Kime said.
"Some of them didn't exactly want to get on another bus," he said.
Meanwhile, at Gettysburg Hospital, officials struggled to determine how to handle the situation.
When the bus of what police called "walking wounded" arrived, security guards spoke of only 13 available beds in the emergency rooms and patients being moved out of their beds and replaced by injured students and chaperones.
Outside, frantic families raced to the hospital unaware of their children's injuries to be shuffled to a room to wait.
With so many people transferred to the hospital, it took hours for personnel to determine the exact number of the injured and even longer to assess the injuries.
Of the 37 patients moved to Gettysburg Hospital, all were treated and released by Monday night, with exception of the three transported to York Hospital for their trauma injuries.
By 8:30 p.m., two patients were airlifted to York Hospital and another was taken by ambulance.
Gettysburg Hospital spokesman Richard Ayers said he did not know the severity of the injuries but that those moved to York needed immediate care from a trauma center, which Gettysburg Hospital is not.
At the time the two helicopters arrived, Ayers said nine patients remained in the emergency room. Ayers had no knowledge of any of the patients' injuries.
Besides tending to patients, Ayers said the hospital's first priority was providing for the family members.
Television and newspaper reporters were kept isolated from the patients and their parents and escorted from the premises. Several chaplains were brought to the hospital to remain with the families in the community room throughout the night.

NOFC Photos by Dustin Weese