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Mass Casualty Bus Accident - M29D1
Sunday, September 21, 2014

At 16:21 hours the New Castle County 911 Center started receiving calls for a reported bus accident that rolled over with 50 people on board in the area of Route 1 Southbound at Red Lion Road.

Station 15 along with ambulances A-6, A-12, B-12, A-29, A-24, NCC Medics 6D, 2D, 5D, ALS-29, ALS-30 and DSP Trooper 4 were dispatched.

Hearing the dispatch, crews from Station 12 responded with Ladder 12 and Engine 12-6. C-15 responded at 16:24 hours followed by Rescue 15 [Assistant Chief Brennan] at16:26 hours. Engine 15-5 [Deputy Chief Poppe] responded at 16:28 hours. ALS-17 responded at 16:30 hours.

Ladder 12 [Deputy Chief Anderson Jr.] arrived on scene at 16:30 hours and advised the Fireboard that the correct location was Route 1 Southbound off Ramp to Route 13 Northbound with the bus overturned with 1 subject trapped.

C-15 arrived on scene at 16:32 hours, Career Staff Powell quickly established a number of injuries and triage area. Deputy 6 [Anderson Jr.] requested the response of USAR 13 for extended extrication. Engine 15-5 arrived on scene at 16:35 hours.

Chief Rosseel arrived on scene at 16:36 hours and established Delaware City Command. Deputy Chief Poppe assumed Operations. Once an estimated total number of patients was established, Fireboard dispatched additional ambulances A-28, B-2, B-18, A-9, B-9, A-22, UD-1, PA-1, PA-6, A-17, A-15 and NCC Medics 1D, 7D, ALS-13, EMS-4 and EMS-1.

Deputy 6 advised 1 patient was still trapped under the bus and ALS-30 [Murphy] prounounced the patient. Crew from Ladder 12 placed the ladder in service over top of the bus and extended out to look for any additional patients in the field. Crews from Rescue 15, Engine 15-5 and Engine 12-4 searched the field also with negative results. Once this was completed those crews either assisted with the Triage of patient or assisting the USAR-13 crew with preparation of extrication. At 16:40 hours, EMS OPS Ken Phibbs responded with NCC MSU Trailer. Career Staff Powell and ALS-29 [Hankins] assumed unified Traige Operations.

A-12 transported the 1st patient [trauma alert, BLS only] to CER at 16:45 hours. Fireboard notified Delaware City Command that CER can take up to 10 Red Triage and/or up to 15 Red/Yellow Triage Patients and MER can take 10 Green Triage Patients. A-24 transported the next patient to CER at 16:47 hours followed by A-28 with 1 to CER at 16:50 hours. Trooper 4, B-2 w/ Paramedic 522 each transported 1 patient to CER at 16:52 hours. A-6 transported 1 patient to CER at 16:53 hours.

Command 13 [Chief Hassell] arrived at 16:52 hours. NOEM1 [Carpenter] and EMS-1 [Tan] arrived at 16:54 hours, followed by USAR-13 at 16:55 hours.

Deputy 13 [Haley] assumed Rescue Operations and requested 2 75 ton Tow Trucks for extrication purposes. A-22 transported 1 patient to CER at 17:01 hours. A-12,A-24, A-28, B-2, A-6 and Trooper 4 all returned to the scene after transporting their patients. B-9 [w/3] transported to WER at 17:09 hours. PA-1 [w/3] and UD-1 [w/2] to CER at 17:11 hours. A-15 [w/1] to CER at 17:12 hours. A-29 [w/3] to MER at 17:14 hours. C-15 [w/3] to MER at 17:16 hours. PA-6 [w/3] to SFER at 17:18 hours. A-17 [w/1] tp CER at 17:18 hours. A-12 [w/4] to SFER at 17:20 hours. B-18 [w/1] to WER at 17:24 hours. A-24 [w/3] to SFER at 17:25 hours. A-6 [w/2] to WER at 17:30 hours. B-2 [w/2] and B-12 [w/2] to AI at 17:35 hours.

At 17:34 hours Command notified Fireboard that all patients have been transported with the exception of the DOA, Christiana Care Shuttle Buss arrived and was utilized for rehab of the firefighters on scene.

At 17:41 hours, Command started releasing ALS and BLS. At 18:15 hours the extrication of the DOA started and by 18:41 the DOA was extricated. At 19:02 hours the bus was fully uprighted. A final walk thriugh on the bus was completed at at 19:12 hours.

Station 15 units remained on the scene assisting the DSP, DelDot and Towing Companies. Station 15 units cleared the scene at 20:38 hours turning the scene over to DelDot and DSP.

Special THANK YOU to the Ladies Auxiliary who assisted with cold beverages and meal to the scene, all the responding Fire Companies, Fire Police and Agencies who assisted.

We received outstanding assistance from the DSP and NCCPD Officers who were on scene as well as all of the NCC EMS Division that were on scene.

Great job was done by everyone on scene and D Squad of the New Castle County Fireboard!

Special thanks to the Elsmere Fire Company and St. Francis EMS who covered our district while we operated at the scene.

All photos courtesy of DCFC Photographer Dennis Layton Jr.