LICKING COUNTY, Ohio — During Tuesday's deadly crash involving a bus and a semitruck on Interstate 70 in Licking County, multiple calls to 911 were made describing the fiery scene, including those who were on the bus.
“It's on fire, we need help. We have children still on the coach,” said one chaperone. The 911 dispatcher asked if they can get the children off, the chaperone said they were trying, but the back of the bus was on fire.
Another 911 caller said "this semi just slammed into a bunch of cars. The truck is on fire."
As dispatchers sent firefighters and EMTs, three Gahanna police officers were the first on the scene.
"Right place, right time," said Dan Pearlman, a public information officers with the city of Gahanna.
Those officers were on their way to training in Zanesville. But they saw a plume of smoke and stopped to help.
“One of our officers went to one side of the bus and they helped to remove some of the students and chaperones from the bus. Two of the officers went to the other side of the bus to try to get the students and chaperones away from what was happening,” Pearlman said.
Not long after, about a hundred other first responders from dozens of departments were on the scene trying to save as many lives as possible amongst the rubble and debris.
“That's what they do every day, and that's what first responders across the state, as you saw on Tuesday, do every day. When there's an emergency, they run right toward it. They do everything they can to save lives,” Pearlman said.
That crash was the second crash that morning on I-70. There was a crash just west of that about an hour earlier. Investigators are trying to determine if that played a role the bus crash.