Wilmington Bus Rescue In The Rain On Tuesday
On Tuesday, April 2nd at approximately 7:49 A.M. the Wilmington Fire Protection District responded to the area of Leasure Rd. East of Route 102 for a report of a school bus in the water occupied with special needs students.
Upon arrival, on scene communications were established with a monitor on board the bus via cell phone verifying that there were seven total occupants: five special needs students, the driver, and himself.
Fire District Swiftwater Rescue personnel were deployed into the water to the bus which was estimated at around 300 feet from the water’s edge where the rescuers entered. Upon arriving at the bus, Fire District rescuers prepared the stranded occupants for evacuation and safely removed the occupants out of the flood waters making several trips back to the bus via an inflatable rescue device. As Swiftwater Rescue personnel performed operations around the bus, it was determined the water current was manageable to evacuate the occupants to the Route 102 side of the flooding where EMS personnel and an alternative bus were waiting to evaluate and shelter the occupants.
None of the occupants were transported to the hospital as a result of the incident and students were safely transitioned onto the alternate bus for continued transport to their destination.
The Wilmington Fire Protection District, citing the National Weather Service’s campaign on the dangers of flood waters, takes this opportunity to remind all motorists to “Turn around, don’t drown”. Flood waters, and what lies under the surface, can be highly unpredictable and dangerous.
Press release
