SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio — First responders and school bus drivers in South Euclid and Lyndhurst took part in a unique training exercise Tuesday designed to prepare them for the rare but potentially devastating event of a school bus rollover.
The training, hosted by the South Euclid-Lyndhurst School District, brought together the Lyndhurst and South Euclid fire departments and transportation staff from the school district to practice handling a bus rollover.
The exercise involved an out-of-service school bus flipped on its side to simulate a real-life crash scenario.
School bus driver Debra Williams, who has been driving buses for 30 years, participated in the training.
"It's scary, but at the same time, it's exciting. It gives you something to really think about," she said.
Williams, who refers to her young passengers as her "kids," emphasized the importance of being prepared for such emergencies.
"At the end of the day, we're all still going to be shocked. But I think it opens your eyes to what it really entails and what you actually have to do," she added.
The training is particularly important because school bus rollovers are rare, meaning many first responders have little experience dealing with them.
Lt. Jeff Turchon of the South Euclid Fire Department highlighted the challenges of such incidents.
"We've had bus accidents but never to this extreme. They're challenging just because of the number of people you have involved," he explained.
Captain Nick Martin from the Lyndhurst Fire Department noted the difficulty of accessing a bus involved in a rollover.
"As you can see, we're having a difficult time getting into it. So it gives us a gauge of what we need to do if we were ever in this situation again," he said.
The training allowed first responders and bus drivers to practice techniques and use tools to evacuate passengers safely.
Participants were advised to maintain accountability for the number of children on the bus and to focus on evacuating those who can walk or are not severely injured to a safe location.
With the school year set to begin next week, Williams expressed confidence in her ability to keep her students safe, armed with new knowledge from the training.
"At the end of the day, we all still are going to be shocked. We're going to be surprised and things like that but I think it opens your eyes to what it really entails and what you actually have to do," she said.
This training is one of the first of its kind in Ohio, and Williams hopes it will inspire other districts to conduct similar exercises.
The South Euclid-Lyndhurst School District plans to continue collaborating with community partners to ensure student safety.
