Guess what?  Some firefighters and myself got our hands on another school bus for heavy rescue training in Norwalk, Ohio sponsored by the Northern Ohio Fools on a rainy April Saturday.  Of course, we spent some time covering the basics of school bus extrication with the newbies of this heavy rescue environment.  Then I had a few new ideas and challenges that proved to be worthwhile endeavor.  This article is going to focus on two topics of advanced school bus extrication; first, the school bus under-ride and second, a procedure I termed the yellow jacket split.

SCHOOL BUS UNDER-RIDE

Here’s your scenario: report of a car that rear-ended a stopped school bus at a high speed.

Upon arrival you set-up a roadway block and luckily find an empty school bus.  The driver evacuated the bus and is uninjured; she reports no students were on the bus.  As you perform a 360 walk-around of the scene, you find a passenger car that is smashed into an under-ride position, which has slightly lifted the rear tires of the school bus off the ground.  There are two screaming and entrapped victims in the front seats of the passenger car.  No fuels are leaking from either vehicle and no power lines are down.  Learning point: Contact a heavy wrecker early.  If you train with them regularly they can help with stabilization and heavy lifting if needed. (more…)