School Field Trip on Wednesday Turns Scary for Families in the Chippewa Valley

Thursday, September 19th, 2024 -- 11:01 AM

(Kim Leadholm, WEAU) A school field trip on Wednesday turned into a scary situation for some families in the Chippewa Valley.

According to Kim Leadholm with WEAU, first responders in Chippewa County received reports of multiple injuries at Bushel and a Peck Apple Orchard in the Town of Lafayette. “We got dispatched for a tractor accident involving two hail wagons with kids and adults,” Deputy Chief Cory Jeffers with Chippewa Fire District said.

“One of the wagons began to lose control as it was descending on a hill,” Chippewa County Sheriff Travis Hakes, said. “They attempted to stop the wagon from descending down the hill, sideways and it abruptly overturned.” Jeffers confirmed with WEAU that 25 people were hurt.

Hakes said there were three patients with life-threatening injuries, five with serious injuries, and nine taken by ambulance. One was taken by helicopter. Hakes also confirmed that no one was killed. The sheriff gave a public statement at around 3:00 p.m. Wednesday.

“It’s a parent’s greatest fear that something happens to their children, especially when they’re, you know, young like that,” Hakes said. “I can tell you that the children were extremely brave, very resilient, extremely brave and very proud of every one of those kiddos.”

The first responders on the scene initiated a mass casualty protocol. That happens when first responders need additional resources to treat an incident. “We do not have enough resources inside the district to cover that. Even bringing in our outside agencies, that’s overwhelming us. That puts extra manpower on,” Jeffers said.

“The city of Chippewa called in extra personnel, the city of Eau Claire called in extra personnel. Notifying the hospitals of that enacts their mass casualty protocol which brings in more resources to the hospitals.”

“When you have an area such as ours, which is fairly rural and then the closure of the hospitals in the area, coming together and being a team like we are and always have been, I think is instrumental,” Hakes said. It’s an incident hitting home to those responding to the call.

“It’s nerve-wracking having kids that age, but it’s what we trained for,” Jeffers said. “It’s what we do for a job. So, everybody was on high alert. Everybody was professional and did a great job treating the patients and getting the job done.”

Hakes said all children have been reunited with their families. Student Transit also came to the orchard to pick up the kids.

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.