Over 24 injured in accident at Chippewa County apple orchard | Accident or Incident

CHIPPEWA FALLS, Wis. (WEAU) – A college subject journey on Wednesday was a scary state of affairs for some households in the Chippewa Valley.

First responders in Chippewa County acquired experiences of a number of accidents 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 mentioned.

“One of the wagons began to lose control as it was descending on a hill,” Chippewa County Sheriff Travis Hakes, mentioned. “They attempted to stop the wagon from descending down the hill, sideways and it abruptly overturned.”

Jeffers confirmed with WEAU that 25 individuals have been harm. Hakes mentioned there have been three sufferers with life-threatening accidents, 5 with critical accidents, and 9 taken by ambulance. One was taken by helicopter. Hakes additionally confirmed that nobody was killed.

The sheriff gave a public assertion at round 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 mentioned. “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 occurs when first responders want extra assets to deal with 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 mentioned. “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 mentioned.

It’s an incident hitting house to these responding to the decision.

“It’s nerve-wracking having kids that age, but it’s what we trained for,” Jeffers mentioned. “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 mentioned all kids have been reunited with their households. Student Transit additionally got here to the orchard to select up the youngsters.

According to the St. Mark Lutheran Church and School web site calendar, the 4k and 5k college students there had a subject journey at Bushel and a Peck Wednesday.

According to Dan Lea, Senior Communications Specialist with Mayo Clinic Health System, Mayo Clinic Health System is among the many businesses responding to the incident that occurred at Bushel and Peck Orchard. Emergency response groups have been mobilized.

The principal of St. Mark Lutheran Church & School – Eau Claire Principal, Peter Micheel, launched the next assertion: “At this time, we are trusting the Chippewa County Sheriff’s Department as their members were at the scene. At this point, we are focusing on reuniting the children with their caregivers. Whenever we face a challenging time, we commit everything to the lord’s care, and trust his guiding hand.”