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1999 Penn State Bus Accident November 20, 1999. Saturday night was a very foggy night. I was coming home from my bowling league at 9:00 p.m. and noticed that it was extremely foggy out. I mean it was so foggy that if you were doing the regular speed limit on State Route 940, which ranges from 45-55, you couldn't see maybe 5 feet in front of you. I took my time and made it home by 9:30. I checked my email and about 11:30 p.m. I laid down to go to bed. I was in bed at 12:00 am Sunday the 21st of November when my mother came in and woke me up. She told me that White Haven had a bad bus accident. Well, my first reaction was to put it bluntly 'OH SHIT'. I run with both White Haven and Weatherly Ambulance and Fire Departments. I got up and got dressed. While I was getting dressed I could not decide weather or not I should go and drive right out to White Haven or wait for Weatherly to get paged out for it. Well, to be honest just as I thought that Weatherly Ambulance got paged out for it. I responded to the station. We crewed both truck 2063 and 2064 immediately. We responded to the scene which was approximately 11 miles away (White Haven is 10 miles) to Interstate 80 West Bound at exit 41. As we were responding to the call we were informed by Carbon County 911 Communications Dispatchers that there was one bus and multiple injuries as per Luzerne County. As we drove up I-80 East Bound towards exit 41 we still couldn't see a thing and it seemed to me that the fog had gotten heavier than when I saw it at 9:30. When we were about at the bridge of Exit 41 we looked to the left towards the westbound lanes, and only then did we actually see the magnitude of the accident. There was a huge pile of crushed metal and what seemed like thousands of people everywhere. When we were able to make the turn around it had seemed like we were driving forever. When we got on the scene my chief Paul was given the position of Transportation Officer. I took it upon myself to see if any of my fellow crew members needed assistance. I then started Triaging patients. As of approximately 1:30 am we had transported all of the injured and uninjured off the scene to multiple hospitals and shelters in White Haven. It was a long night for all who had been there. After transportation of all the students, Paul commandeered Hazleton General Hospital Medic 4 truck and drove to the main shelter where Paul, Michele (Triage Officer), Wayne (EMS Incident Commander), Gerald (Deputy Coroner), a few others and myself went through the lists of students and cross referenced them with the names on our lists of transported patients. This alone took I guess 2 hours. At the end I think there were 6 or 8 unaccounted for. We went through the lists and found out a few of them and we still had I think 3 or 4 left. Then we narrowed that to 2 because we had never taken into account of the 2 fatalities, only because we didn't know their names. We eventually found all of the people whom were missing. When sun rise came I went to the scene to take a look at it. There were 4 buses, 2 cars, and 1 pick-up truck there with metal, glass, and anything else possible scattered all over the road. I went back to the shelter we were all at and we were deciding who was going to pick up the minor injured students at the multiple hospitals. We called all the hospitals and got the number or students at each one that were being discharged. I got nominated to go to Gnaden Huetten in Lehighton and Palmerton. During the ride to my two destinations I talked with the bus driver. He was a very nice man, although I forget his name. We talked about the accident. I pretty much told him almost everything that went on during the night. After a few wrong turns we made it to Palmerton. We picked up the students and started on our way to Gnaden Huetten. And while going there we also made a few wrong turns again. My mind just wasn't in for giving directions I guess cause I hadn't slept in almost two days. We arrived only to find out that the students were not there. They were being held at a different annex. We went to the building they were in. Emotions swelled because I remembered a lot of the faces that I had treated on scene. The kids were crying, I also had a few tears coming down too. I called in and told Wayne that I would be back shortly. During the travel home I sort of dozed off I guess. No I did doze off. The bus driver woke me when were about five miles away from our destination. I called Wayne on the radio and asked him where he would like me to bring the students. And he said to go to the main shelter so I did. When we got there I emptied the bus of all equipment I was able to get while down at the two hospitals. After that we said our good-byes and the rest of the students were on their way back home. I was for the most part happy for everyone but I also felt sad for the two that lost their lives. After that I didn't really think much about it. Until sometime around Christmas I think. I was at work and the cook that I worked with, whom was also at the accident, told me that someone had placed a wreath under the bridge where the accident had occurred. That night when I got home from work I checked my email and someone had sent a story to me about caring. I read it and almost cried. So I went to the Penn State web site and got the dean's email address. I wrote to them telling whom I was and what I did. I also sent them a story. I told them to share that story with their faculty and student body. Weather or not they did that was their decision. Still to this day I wonder to myself that someone was with the students that cold and dark night. Because it could have been a lot worse if someone had been driving on I-80 that night right after the accident, doing 65 miles per hour in that dense fog, and ended up colliding with one of the vehicles or maybe injuring or killing more students. God was with them. I would now like to take the time and personally thank all the companies and hospitals that assisted us that night. For without you this could have been a lot worse. Sincerely, George Czarnecki EMT/Firefighter THANK YOU
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