Pedestrian Dies, 20 Students Hospitalized Following Boyle Heights School Bus Collision

On Monday, October 25, 2010 at 3:22 PM, 13 Companies of Los Angeles Firefighters, 14 LAFD Rescue Ambulances, 1 Heavy Rescue, 1 Hazardous Materials Team, 2 Helicopters, 3 EMS Battalion Captains, 3 Battalion Chief Officer Command Teams and 1 Division Chief Officer Command Team, a total of 114 Los Angeles Fire Department personnel under the direction of Deputy Chief Mario Rueda, as well as Los Angeles Police and California Highway Patrol Officers, responded to a Multi-Patient Traffic Collision near 2332 East 1st Street in the Boyle Heights area of Los Angeles.

Los Angeles Firefighters arrived quickly to discover a multi-vehicle collision in which one vehicle, an occupied full-sized school bus, had overturned.

As additional LAFD personnel were summoned, a swift triage effort was undertaken to assist and medically assess the school bus driver and as many as 50 teenage bus occupants from nearby Roosevelt High School, none of whom were trapped or had life-threatening injury.

One person found nearby however, and later determined to be a pedestrian, had sustained fatal injury and was declared dead at the scene.

A pair of young adult males from a sedan that reportedly struck the bus, were taken into police custody while receiving pre-hospital medical care, as Firefighter/Paramedics concurrently identified 18 students from the bus in need of non-emergency ambulance transport.

The eighteen students with minor injuries, and the school bus driver - in fair condition, were taken to eight regional hospitals that had been proactively alerted by LAFD responders. A pair of Los Angeles Fire Department air ambulance helicopters placed on stand-by at Roosevelt High School, proved not to be needed.

Using a dedicated Metro transit bus, firefighters not directly involved in caring for the injured coordinated swift and orderly transportation of as many as 30 students to the Hollenbeck Community Police Station, where a reunification center was established.

In the reunification center, City of Los Angeles Crisis Response Team volunteers continued the emotional support efforts established by firefighters, as parents and guardians were calmly reunited with the students.

Despite earlier declarations of non-injury, two students at the reunification center complained of acute pain, and were taken with parental concurrence to area hospitals, bringing the total ambulance transported patient count to 23 (1 bus driver, 18 student bus riders from the incident site, 2 young males from the sedan in custody, and later 2 student bus riders from the reunification center).

No other injuries were reported.

A positive identification of deceased pedestrian, as well as the time, cause and manner of their death will be determined by the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner.

Pursuant of statewide protocol for occupied school buses involved in student injury collisions, the California Highway Patrol will be the lead agency in a detailed incident investigation.

(photos)

Submitted by Brian Humphrey, Spokesman
Los Angeles Fire Department