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Students Trained in Surviving a School Bus Crash

Florida fire rescue staff simulate a school bus crash, flipping a school bus onto a car. They advise students to look for traffic when exiting, stick together, and stay close to be accounted for.

August 9, 2016
2 min to read


TAMPA, Fla. — Fire rescue staff members here simulated a school bus crash as part of a training for first responders and to show students how to survive and escape, WFLA reports.

As part of the training scenario, fire rescue staff and a local towing company flipped a school bus onto a car, according to the news source. The bus was on its side, but not flush to the ground.

In the training, students were told that when exiting, they would need to avoid stepping on the glass windows, which could break and cause injury. Instead, they were told to step on metal portions of the bus, or on areas that can hold the weight of a person. Susan Tamme, division chief of training for Tampa Fire Rescue, advised wearing seat belts, but in buses without seat belts she urged kids to stay seated, according to WFLA.

Students were also told to look before exiting and for traffic once outside the bus, the news source reports. Mike Buttermore, training captain for Tampa Fire Rescue, told WFLA that students should stick together and go to a safe place, and to stay nearby so they can be accounted for by a school official. He also said that parents should keep their children on the scene until a school official has been notified.

Watch a video of the scenario being set up below.

We trained for a nightmare scenario and @WFLA@LindseyMastis was there. Watch tomorrow morning to see the story🚌 🚒 pic.twitter.com/tLMQi5PMfQ

— Tampa Fire Rescue (@TampaFireRescue) August 7, 2016

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