HAMILTON, Mich. — It's one scenario no first responder wants to encounter in real time:
A school bus rollover.
However, the Hamilton Community School District is helping area fire departments prepare, just in case.
"Usually you don't get an old bus that you can flip over and basically destroy," explained Joe Knapp, school resource officer for Hamilton Community Schools. "They'll be cutting on it and ripping windows and such, that opportunity doesn't come along very often."
This week, fire departments from around Hamilton are training for a bus rollover crash on an old, out-of-commission school bus donated by the district.
The Hamilton Fire department was the first one up Monday night.
"We're going to get our equipment out and start stabilizing the bus practice extrication, different methods on opening up a school bus, if it's on its side, just overall patient care and packaging somebody for transport," said Deputy Chief Mike Capel of Hamilton Fire Rescue.
While the windshield was cut open, as well as the roof of the bus, school resource officer Joe Knapp says there's no better experience than hands on.
"The fire department tonight said we're going to take our time and teach the younger Fire Department guys how to do this correctly," said Officer Knapp. "So when the data if the day does come that we have to do it on a live incident, or a live accident that they know what they're doing, and they can do it quickly and efficiently."
Bus driver Kathy Dykema explains her role in this type of situation before the emergency responders get there.
"We would check to make sure there's nobody seriously hurt, then we would call our dispatch, tell them that we been in an accident, and let them know if there's any major injuries," said Dykema.
Parent Mandy DeJonge has kids who attend Hamilton and ride the bus. She feels better knowing her local fire department has this type of training.
"Just knowing that the fire department has been trained on this is very comforting," said DeJonge. "And they'll if something were to happen, that they are getting the right training to make sure everything goes smoothly and that the kids are all safe."
The training with that school bus will continue Thursday night with the Overisel Fire Department and again Friday with the Salem Fire Department.
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