Passers-by help rescue students from blaze

By Joe Callahan, Star-Banner

Chris Mann heard the fire crackling as he entered the burning school bus, knowing injured children were inside.HIs shirt bloody, James Horton talks about rushing to drag children to safety from a burning bus.As Mann climbed aboard mangled bus No. 9601, which had just been slammed by an 18-wheeler, he was met by children’s screams.He fought through the thick smoke, trying to get to a child trapped in the back. She was lodged in the crushed seats; he couldn’t get her out.

Then, the bus was rocked by exploding tires. As the blaze grew, Mann turned his attention to saving others.In all, 21 students were on board the bus that had stopped and, by all accounts, had its flashers on and the bus arm activated.Like a missile, an 18-wheeler slammed the rear of the bus without stopping, pushing it 275 feet.

Mann, of Palatka, who initially didn’t want to discuss the horrifying ordeal, finally talked about the rescue.

He and three other men – two elevator installers from Palatka, a local man rocked from his couch and a wholesale tire delivery man – all stopped to help save children.

“The Lord put us all there for that reason – to save those children,” said James Horton, 45, who witnessed the crash as he drove north on U.S. 301.

He locked the brakes on his Barron’s Wholesale Tire box truck. He thought about his children – ages 17, 14 and 11 – and ran to the bus.

“All I could think about was my children, and they all ride buses,” said Horton, of Jacksonville.

John Bishop, 45, was driving his pickup truck north, with Mann sitting in the driver’s seat. He saw the school bus was stopped and its lights were flashing.

Mann noticed the school bus arm went out, and he noticed the 18-wheeler barreling in from behind. Bishop realized the semi wasn’t stopping.

“It sounded like a bomb went off,” Bishop said. “It was something I don’t want to ever see again.”

Bishop and Mann, both installers for Mowrey Elevators, knew they had to act and act fast. Bishop, the pickup driver, quickly got into a northbound turn lane.

They pulled across the southbound lane and stopped to block traffic. They ran to the bus, meeting Horton. They all quickly began pulling children from the inferno.

Matt Eckenrode, 25, was sitting on his living room couch watching television when an explosion shook his home, nearly knocking him to the floor.

Knowing something terrible had happened, he looked out from his window and watched the wreckage being pushed down U.S. 301.

“I got my shoes on and when I got to the door, I could hear the children screaming,” he said. “I just ran up there to see if I could help them.”

Eckenrode lives on the dirt Northeast 155th Street Road, just a few blocks from where the children catch the bus.

“I helped pull out the girl who lives just down the road,” he said. “All I could hear was the screaming. I wanted to do what I could to help them.”

For Mann, it still bothers him that they left one child behind, even though he knows they saved many others.

“The kid was lodged and I just couldn’t get her out,” he said. “There was nothing I could do.”

http://www.ocala.com/article/20080924/NEWS/809242011/1402/NEWS?Title=Passers_by_help_rescue_students_from_blaze

Hi everyone my name is Nicole Lievano and my position at SEES is in Inside Sales and I’m also the Sales Coordinator for Andrew Hannah and Vinny Hogan. I’ve been with SEES a little bit over 2 1/2 years. I was at the NAEC Convention in Dallas this year and I want to thank everyone who stopped by the SEES booth. I had a great time launching off our new website and meeting everyone. For everyone that was not at the convention. I look forward  to talking  with you soon to set up some appointments. Although I won’t be meeting with you , you will be meeting with the incredible Andrew Hannah and the amazing Vinny Hogan. I love working for SEES and helping out. Thank you all for your Business and I hope you enjoy the new website.

Hello from the sunny south. Well, actually today is only partly sunny, the other part is rain. Since we are still in a drought, all rain is welcome. It is hard to believe that we still have a drought, with all of the rain and tropical storms that have skimmed by, but guess we will have to leave that to the officials.

Welcome to all who have opened online accounts. I hope that you are enjoying ordering and managing your accounts online. Please let us know if you need assistance with any of the features on the website.

Thanks to all who visited the SEES booth at the NAEC convention in Texas. As always, it is great to SEES ya!

It seems like I’ve always had a little salt water in my veins. My family is from the coast of Italy, I grew up on the Chesapeake and have lived in Florida over thirty years. I joined SEES almost seven years ago and liked the fit right away. I think our nautical theme, whether by design or not, is just a natural. When you crew a boat, you learn to work together and many times under difficult circumstances, but you rely on your team and sees it through. That’s why I really enjoy being a member of the tech support team. We have great people in production and materials management that make the difficult seem easy. They help me provide the over and above and make a difference everyday. Whether it’s a fit for a SEES product, crossing part numbers for a match, or creating a custom solution for a specific circumstance, our tech support and materials team is number one in finding ways to make it happen. My goal is to put people and products together to get the job done. I like helping people and besides what I do for SEES, I spend a good portion of my free time doing just that.  My philosophy is to leave it better than I found it. I guess that’s how I became the “Doc” as a customer support point man. So if you need that extra effort to chart a course to success, welcome aboard, I’ll help keep your riggings clear,

As always, Smooth Sailin’!

By Verne Fitzgerald

Hi everyone, this is my first BLOG coming from beautiful south Florida, home of SEES. As you can imagine, it is exciting times for us as we enter this new phase and begin our exploration into this world of unlimited information and boundless communication.

SEESers are busy doing last minute planning and programming to bring the SEES site to life. Everyone is focused on the goal of producing a website that provides a simple, secure, swift source of supplies.

My latest project is searching for old photos of the early days at SEES to post on the site. This is tough because we did not take too much time out for photo ops. The early days of SEES began in 1977, when we established our first manufacturing plant and SEES store in Miami. Ah, the good old days of PB&J lunches and splurging on a new tool instead of a night out. Not to say they were not good times, because they definitely were. Maybe even great, but the best day is always the present. That is why I try not to forget that is why it is called the present, every new day is a gift.

Welcome to the newly redesigned SEES website which now offers On-Line Purchasing!!!!!!!

Thank you for viewing my blog, as most of you already know and some now know, my name is Andrew Hannah and I am the Sales Manager for the Midwest and Southeast United States.  In addition to traveling to thank customers for your business, I often work with individual branches or companies on what SEES calls “Contract Pricing” to extend greater discounts on your part spend with SEES to grow our businesses together.

I will be posting success stories on how much money I save customers on this blog as well as fun, interested and/or unique short stories about my travels that you as a customer and/or friend may find entertaining.  For example, I was most recently in Indianapolis visiting customers and on my flight home, the airline staff announced that we were all flying with an Olympic Gold Medalist!  How awesome is that!!!!!  What is really interesting is that the young man who won the gold medal for Skeet Shooting was also serving in our armed forces in the Army and was in uniform.  Regardless on ones position about politics and/or war, it made me feel proud and safe to know that it was an American proudly serving our country who brought home the gold in a shooting competition.

I would also like to thank everyone who has been unselfish enough to serve our county through the armed services!

Semper Fi