CONCORD, N.C. – A mock casualty drill teaches school bus drivers how to evacuate children quickly and first responders how to access a school bus that’s been involved in an incident.
Developing such exercises with local first responders help a transportation operation become proactive, if an emergency event were to occur. While student transporters can’t prepare for everything, transportation directors and a fire chief discussed the importance of involving all stakeholders when administering such an event during a panel discussion at STN EXPO East on Saturday.
Paul Hasenmeier, chief and public safety director with Hernando County Fire Rescue in Florida, presented prior to the panel discussion about how emergency responders mitigate challenges and prepare for emergencies. Hasenmeier shared case studies and provided examples of where emergency responders would cut the school bus to rescue trapped children or school bus drivers.
In an interactive panel discussion, Katrina Morris, transportation director for West Shore ESD and the president of the Michigan Association of Pupil Transportation, explained that she rolled a bus on its side and the fire department cut through it at precise locations. They also set a school bus on fire, which surprised first responders as they didn’t believe the bus would burn as quickly as it did.
Peggy Stone, the transportation director for Lincoln County Schools in West Virginia, added that her staff also flipped a school bus on its side. She said because the district is very rural and firefighters are volunteers, she knows the response time will be long if an incident was to occur. Stone added that the event was a school bus driver’s idea.
She added that driver and student volunteers portrayed injured patients needing assistance.
Stone added that once a year Lincoln County fogs a bus and holds a driver competition to determine who can save the children, life-sized dolls, the fastest. She advised when considing a mock drill to start small like fogging a school bus with hidden training dolls inside.
Casualty Training for Students with Special Needs
Morris, whose operation serves primarily students with special needs at several member school districts, said that even if an emergency drill can’t be performed with every student, the process should be documented.
She also advised inviting law enforcement officers, firefighters and EMS visit schools to speak with students, especially those with disabilities so they become familiar with the emergency vehicles and personnel.
Attendee Beth Allison, safety and training instructor for Prince William County Public Schools in Virginia, said she was driving a school bus when a student had a seizure. Because she wasn’t the normal driver on that route, she said she didn’t have training on what to do and relied solely on her instincts.
“If we don’t prepare for something we don’t want to talk about, when it happens it’s going to be chaos,” said Hasenmeier, who moderated the panel.
He advised setting up a time with first responders to sit on the school bus for a route with students with special needs to get a better idea of behaviors.
Another attendee shared that a parent told their child to never exit the school bus unless they had arrived at home or school. That presented a challenge when the school bus broke down on route, and the child wouldn’t leave.
Morris said emergency training can be challenging and advised giving students jobs so they can help in a situation.
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Other considerations when creating casualties are language barriers and the fact that most students have cell phones and can call their parents at any moment. Morris said she utilizes some law enforcement officers and school administrators who are bilingual to help communicate, but a language barrier wasn’t covered in the mock drill.
Meanwhile, another attendee shared that after a crash, parents arrived on scene and picked their children up before the district and first responders arrived. He asked the attendees how to communicate the plan with parents.
Morris said she set up specific communications district-wide. She said the announcement will indicate that an incident occurred, and an updated will be provided in 15 minutes, “but don’t go to the scene.”
She added it’s important to train drivers to not release children directly to their parents.
Stone noted that her district requires children to be signed out.
Stone said all agencies met following the mock drill and discussed lessons learned, such as school drivers who are on the radio too much and need to keep channels clear for emergencies.
Morris added that besides the school bus drill, her staff held another drill consisting of a school evacuation, where they ran into a couple of glitches.
“We don’t look at them as failures, but instead opportunities on where we can improve,” she said.
Tips & Tricks
Stone discussed the importance of inviting the media to attend the mock casualty drill. She underlined the importance of building a relationship with the media, so that when things do go wrong, they call before publishing or airing one-side of the story. She added it’s important to inform the parents as well, so that they don’t panic when they see an overturned bus on the side of the road.
Attendee Allison added that first responders didn’t know her school district had electric school buses in the county for nearly two years. Now that they have propane school buses, she said it’s important to make them aware so they can be better prepared.
Hasenmeier said the responsibility of producing mock drills should not fall fully on the school district. Instead, he said that first responders want to be involved. He advised having someone at the drill taking notes and documenting with pictures so that the event can be reviewed with participants and the training can be shared with others.
“Use it to help you gain credibility to the community,” he said.
Morris added that her event was also a morale booster because it was training specifically designed for the school bus drivers. She said it strengthened the bond the drivers have.
