School Bus Drill “Back to School Hazards”
"By Scott Meinecke, Sheldon (Iowa) Fire Department."
Those of you with kids know how exciting it is to send them back to school! This month let’s make sure we are prepared for school as well. Last year my department had the opportunity to purchase a school bus for training. Working with a department that had responded to an accident in Minnesota we developed a powerpoint that you can download below.
This drill can be very simple. Have the local school bring a couple of buses to your fire station. Take time to look at the different means of egress and how they function. Inventory your equipment and decide what tools would work if you needed to provide access/escape for trapped occupants. Look over the schools emergency plan. If they don’t have one, offer some assistance in developing one. School busses are very strong vehicles, which works both for you and against you. If you can find a scrap bus to work on try as many tools as you can. Remember to call the departments you are likely to mutual aid to train with you.
Training Objectives
Upon completion of this drill the firefighter should be able to….
1. Identify standard egress paths from the bus.
2. Identify alternative egress paths from the bus.
3. Stabilize the bus.
4. Use numerous tools to extricate victims.
5. Utilize an incident management system.
Safety
1. Make sure participants are physically fit to participate.
2. Participants should wear full PPE.
3. Secure the vehicle.
