First responders in December icy bus crash recognized

While we're recognizing bravery in the line of civic duty, here's a quick note about honors bestowed upon the emergency workers who arrived first on the scene of this winter's icy bus crash that left a tour bus full of kids partly dangling over I-5.

Columbia Basin Job Corps, the organization that had chartered the buses involved in the accident, honored members of the Seattle Police Department, Seattle Fire Department and Washington State Patrol who were the first to respond to the December 19th crash scene in a ceremony on Wednesday at East Pine's Fire Station 25.

I was one of the first reporters on the ground (the helicopters beat us all) at the slippery, icy scene that Friday afternoon and was surprised how calm the situation was only 30 minutes after the bus first crashed through the wall above the freeway. Of course, there was also the issue of what to do with the kids after the accident but that was a different problem.

The accident was investigated by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration but any reports have not yet been made public.