A couple of years ago we wondered how we could help the victims of a school bus accident.  With a little planning, A/C Beebe, put together one of our most memorable training events in our department's history.  With donations of old buses by the Johnson Bus Service, and the use of the Sheboygan County Fairgrounds, we were given the chance to study the layout and design of new school buses to determine the best method to gain entry, to rescue trapped and injured victims.

One scenario we trained on was creating an access door through the roof, in the event a school bus was on it's side and the escape door in back was blocked by debris.  We found that an air chisel worked great, cutting the outer and inner skins like butter.

We spent the rest of the afternoon trying different scenarios and working with the other County Fire Departments and EMS units in attendance.  We tried everything from taking the back of the bus totally off, to lifting the bus almost 2 feet in the air!  here we are creating an access point through the side windows.

At the end of the day we were all curious to see just how one of these buses would burn.  So we found out!  In no time at all we got the little bus fully engulfed.  And, with all the holes that we made and all the windows knocked out, it was very easy to extinguish.  It was the highlight of the day and a great way to finish the exercise.