VIDEO: Last year, a group of parents faced a scary situation. On October 18th, more than 20 students were hurt during a field trip at a Chippewa County apple orchard. The incident prompted a major response from first responders in the region.
“There’s a few in your career that stick with you,” Deputy Chief Cory Jeffers, with the Chippewa Fire District, said. “This is one of them for me.” It was a day practice became reality. “We train for mass casualty all the time,” Jeffers said. “Usually, once a year, we hold some type of event-training. This is the first time we’ve actually had to implement our mass casualty protocol.” “The way that could have turned out, should have turned out, is amazing that it didn’t,” Captain Erik Hennlich, with the Chippewa Fire District, said.
More than two dozen people were hurt after a wagon overturned at Bushel and a Peck Apple Orchard. “We picked apart the call,” Hennlich said. “We picked apart the actual response itself and our actions.” “You can’t train that emotional response,” Jeffers said. “So for us to see that and realize that it’s upped our training a bit more.” Everyone who was hurt in the incident ended up being okay. It’s a win that first responders said they don’t always get.
