Woodbridge Twp Hosts MCI School Bus Drill

On the weekend of October 17th, and 18th the Woodbridge Township Office Of Emergency Management hosted a multi agency 16 hour two-day vehicle extrication and mass casualty drill. 

This two day class started on Saturday October 17th, and started at the Ross Street School #11. At the school a classroom portion was held and talked about the strategies and tactics of school bus accidents, the extrication, and stabilization of these complex incidents. The lecture was led by Mike Daley and his instructor cadre from Fire Service Performance Concepts. Following the classroom portion members / students went to the drill ground located in Sewaren near the Municipal Boat Ramp. At the training site, there were five type B buses, three of which were flipped on their side, two type C buses, both of which were placed in precarious situations, and a handful of smaller cars and sedans, some of which were placed underneath the school buses. Throughout the day responders went hands on focusing on stabilization, cutting, spreading, and lifting techniques, which included making openings on the side and top of the bus, utilizing struts, power tools, extrication tools, and much more to get each task done. 

Day two commenced at the training grounds. Members started the morning off by training on more tactics involving lifting, stabilizing, tunneling, and cutting. Once those drills were complete,the real life scenarios were dispatched. Crews put the skills they learned to work with rolling a response and had to overcome multiple obstacles and challenges. Many different agencies, as well as outsiders each played crucial roles in each step of this drill. 

The first incident dispatched was at Inman Avenue and Bramhall Road in Colonia. This incident involved a school bus with one car underneath the driver side, one car underneath the rear, and one car underneath the passenger side. There were two patients trapped on the bus, one partially ejected from the bus, and one patient in each car. Crews had to work to stabilize, cut, and lift the bus to remove the occupants and make the scene safe. 

The second dispatched incident was based around Route 9 North and Bunns Lane in Woodbridge. Crews arrived to find one school bus with a live power pole and lines on top of it as well as one car underneath the driver side, one car underneath the rear, and one car underneath the passenger side. This incident also had several passengers entrapped within different vehicles, crews had to stabilize, cut, and lift the bus to remove the occupants. 

In both of these incidents members pulled dummies from the vehicles themselves, and after that, the victims were played by drama club students from high schools drama clubs who were wearing makeup and acted to show varying levels of injury, here, emergency medical services personnel and Hackensack Meridian Health paramedics. Once triaged, the victims were “Transported” to various hospitals. 

Mayor John McCormac said the drill brought together the township’s police department, eight fire departments, five first aid squads and emergency management staff, along with mutual aid partners from Rahway, Perth Amboy and Middlesex County. “This is a monumental effort,” McCormac said. “It’s not out of the question that we could have a catastrophic accident on one of those highways and we should be ready for it. That’s what today did.” 

In a news interview with Woodbridge Fire Department Deputy Chief M. Minkler, he stated “It prepared our responders for the final evolution today, where they can take all that and put it together,” Deputy Chief Minkler played a key role in organizing the drill and bringing together the logistics alongside Woodbridge Police Sergeant P. Agusta and many other people who were behind the scenes. “We need to make sure we’re prepared to respond appropriately to these types of incidents.” Said Deputy Chief Minkler. 

Agencies in attendance: 

Woodbridge Fire Department

Port Reading Fire Department 

Avenel Fire Department

Fords Fire Department

Hopelawn Fire Department

Iselin Fire Department Dist 9

Iselin Fire Department Dist 11

Colonia Fire Department

Perth Amboy Fire Department

Rahway Fire Department

Woodbridge Police Department

Woodbridge Office Of Emergency Management

Woodbridge Police Emergency Medical Services 

Port Reading First Aid Squad

Avenel-Colonia First Aid Squad

Colonia First Aid Squad

Woodbridge Station 7 Fire Dispatch

Woodbridge Police & EMS Dispatch

Middlesex County Haz-Mat

Middlesex County Urban Search And Rescue Team

Middlesex County Fire Marshals Office

Middlesex County Office Of Emergency Management

Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office

New Jersey State Police

Hackensack Meridian Health Paramedics

Public Service Enterprise Group

Noll Brothers Towing