FIRST PERSON The Worst-Case Scenario By Denny Coughlin April 24, 2010. On a wet, cool morning at


9 o’clock, a call went into the 911 dispatch. “Tere has been an explosion at the St.


Louis Park Jr. High School.” Two buses were parked next to each


other and had just arrived. A suicide bomber with a backpack walked between the buses, both loaded with children, and detonated the bomb. In less than a minute, you could hear si-


rens. As first responders arrived, car alarms went off in the parking lot. One of the cars was on fire. Tere were dead and injured stu- dents on both buses, and injured students were strewn around the school grounds and the parking lot. Te police didn’t know there were also injured students inside the school from the broken glass, the result of five pounds of C4 explosives that directed the blast towards the school building due to the positioning of the buses. As firefighters arrived, they performed


a quick evaluation. Te car fire was not a priority; it could burn. Tey walked past multiple students lying on the ground in pools of blood. Next, the firefighters made their way towards the school buses


for an evaluation. Te full-size school bus had a hole in the side about four feet in diameter. Seats were missing from the area where the bomb had detonated. Te mini-bus parked next to the full-size bus had most of its side missing. You could throw a ball completely through the bus. Te inside was painted in red. Students had bus parts protruding from them and multiple, deep wounds. Many were stunned, in shock and completely non- responsive. Tere were many fatalities. As more firefighters arrived on scene,


they started to split up the tasks. Some tended to the students lying on the ground. Firefighters entered the school buses and asked if anyone could walk. Tere were no responses. Te explosion had taken everyone’s hearing. Te limited communications with the victims was through scared looks and hand motions. Inside the school, the principal ordered


a lock down. Administrators and teach- ers moved the students they could to the back portion of the school building. Te front classrooms had victims that needed to be evaluated and treated as soon as re- sources were available. Ambulances arrived on the scene and EMTs began to help with the triage. Local


hospitals were notified and put on alert. Tere was a concern of chemical or radio- logical contamination. Hospitals would not admit the injured until they were as- sured contamination would not spread within their facilities. Te fire department tested the area and declared the area free of contamination. Within 15 minutes, emergency workers


found what could be a secondary explo- sive device. Te bomb squad was called and on scene in less than 10 minutes. Te members worked without calling atten- tion to themselves. Tey had the police clear a perimeter and parked a fire truck between the bomb and the school buses, where multiple emergency workers were oblivious to the second threat. It took them two-and-a-half minutes to disable the bomb and declare the area safe. Te students were removed from the


school buses, with the dead left in place. Te students in the school yard were collected, evaluated, treated and trans- ported. Te car fire was extinguished. All students waiting to be transported or in the triage area were patted down by po- lice officers


for weapons or suspicious


items. Te school classrooms were tended to with law enforcement and firefighters


30 School Transportation News Magazine July 2010


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92