Motor Vehicle Collision
Involving a Mini-Bus

September 5, 2003 1604hrs:

Engine 32 responded mutual aid to La Plata for a motor vehicle collision involving a mini-bus on Piney Church Road just north of Route 488. La Plata Engine 13 and Captain 1, Doug Hutchins, arrived on the scene to find a passenger car had struck a Charles County Adult Day Care Center mini-bus and then slammed into a tree. The bus was transporting 5 medically and mentally disabled passengers, of which three where in wheelchairs. Engine 32, under the command of Deputy Chief 3B DJ Mills, assisted E-13 with securing the vehicles and spreading absorbent on the leaking fluids. The bus driver and one passenger on the bus were transported by ambulances to Civista Medical Center in La Plata. The driver of the passenger car was not injured and signed a release. The remaining four passengers were transferred on to a second mini-bus and transport to Civista for checkups. Ambulance 37 provided two EMTs to ride on the bus during transport to the hospital. Ambulance 129 also followed to the hospital to assist with off-loading the patients into the Emergency Room.

Responding Units: La Plata: Engine 13 and Captain 1; Waldorf: Engine 32, Ambulance 37, and Ambulance 129; Charles County Rescue Squad: Ambulance 517; Hughesville: Squad 2 and Ambulance 27; Charles County Medic Unit: Medic 1 and Medic 21.