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MASS CASUALTY INCIDENT

I-93 SOUTHBOUND VICINITY OF EXIT 42

LITTLETON, NH

Monday, March 21, 2011

A tour bus carrying 25 Korean passengers enroute from Quebec to Boston, Massachusetts overturned on Interstate 93 in Littleton NH during wintery driving conditions Monday evening. The Grafton County Sheriff’s Department Communications Center received the initial 9-1-1 call at 8:10 PM.

New Hampshire 9-1-1 received 4 cellular calls reporting the accident and utilized 5 Emergency Medical Dispatchers (EMD’s) in processing the initial incident reports. “AT&T Language Line” services were accessed by NH 9-1-1 on receiving a cell call from the bus operator. Nearly all the occupants of the bus spoke only Korean.

The Littleton Fire Department was conducting a meeting at the time of the incident and was able to respond with additional personnel on the initial call.

A mass casualty incident (MCI) was declared with the following area EMS agencies providing mutual aid ambulance assistance:

*Bethlehem Fire Department

*Caledonia-Essex Area Ambulance – St. Johnsbury, VT

*Lancaster Fire Department

*Ross Ambulance Service – Littleton

*Twin Mountain Ambulance

*Whitefield Fire Rescue Department

*Woodsville Rescue Ambulance

*DHART helicopter was requested but unable to fly due to the poor weather

Ross Ambulance Service personnel who were on the first ambulance on the scene immediately went into MCI mode and began tagging patients on the bus. Adam Smith, Manager of Ross Ambulance arrived on the scene and served as EMS Branch Officer. Littleton Regional Hospital Paramedic Intercept personnel provided secondary triage.

Littleton Fire Department advised that 17 patients were transported by ambulance to area hospitals that included:

*Littleton Regional Hospital (1 patient admitted, 10 patients treated and discharged,

2 patients transferred to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon)

*Cottage Hospital in Woodsville

*Northern Vermont Regional Hospital in St. Johnsbury, VT

*Weeks Medical Center in Lancaster

*Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon had a total of 3 patients transferred to

their facility

According to Adam Smith there were five red-tagged patients extricated from the bus, there was some entrapment, but he noted no delays and said “things went pretty smoothly”. He said all patients were transported within an hour and ten minutes into the incident. He said a school bus arrived on the scene according to the area’s MCI plan, which transported all the green-tagged patients.

Chief Joseph Mercieri of the Littleton Fire Department said that the department had conducted an MCI training session in January 2011. He also noted that the community’s MCI Plan had been revised within the past two weeks. As part of the plan, McMahon’s Towing Service of Littleton also was dispatched to the scene with large vehicle rescue equipment.

Follow-up with DHMC indicates that the three patients transferred there had significant spinal injuries but no life-threatening conditions. Chief Mercieri indicated a formal critique of the incident will be conducted with area agencies in the near future.

** Report compiled by Bill Wood, Emergency Preparedness Coordinator and Clay Odell, EMS Bureau Chief, NH Department of Safety, Division of Fire Standards and Training and EMS