- Warning: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this story may contain images of deceased persons.
IT TOOK just two hours and 27 minutes to deliver the best urgent care possible and get every patient to hospital.
But for paramedics and other emergency services deployed to the scene of the Hunter Valley bus crash one year ago, that tragic night would set many of them on a long road to recovery.
Ten people died when a coach with 35 wedding guests on board rolled on Wine Country Drive on the way to Singleton just after 11.30pm on June 11, 2023.
It sparked a major emergency response which saw dozens of paramedics, five medical helicopters and their teams, firefighters, police, volunteer rescue crews and functional services like Transport for NSW work side-by-side.
Luke Wiseman was at home in Newcastle with his family for the long weekend when he got the call.
As chief superintendent and associate director of the Hunter New England sector for NSW Ambulance, he was asked if he could respond to a major event unfolding at an isolated area near Greta.
"This is an exceptionally tragic incident to the communities and to the individuals that are involved," he told the Newcastle Herald.
"They can rest assured that on the night, that we really delivered amazing care. I don't think you can really put that into words.
"It makes me really proud to lead such a service that has been able to deliver great care."
The lost lives of the bus crash
Wrapping our arms around emergency services
FOR THOSE at the centre of the traumatic response, the support from NSW Ambulance, other organisations, each other and locals has continued in the hours, days and months afterwards.
"The Hunter is a pretty tight community and I can honestly say that the community has wrapped their arms around everyone that responded, from the moment that it occurred," Chief Superintendent Wiseman said.
"There's a large amount of community healing that still needs to be done, but having the support from the community, to my teams, again, is really humbling."
Paramedics that were just three months into their roles, through to veteran staff, were involved that night.
"Reflecting on 12 months in, it will affect everyone a little bit differently, and we just need to be there to support that journey," Chief Superintendent Wiseman said.
"There are still a lot of people on that road to recovery and we will continue to work with them. Some of those roads aren't always easy.
"But in saying that, it's very much individualised and it's not a one-hat-fits-all, so we will continue to work on that and continue to support our staff."
He urged anyone, from any emergency or functional service, who was affected by the tragedy to reach out for help.
"It's more than the post-incident debrief," he said.
"It's about how, into the future, we make sure these people have these needs met, and we do have those support services.
"And for all those that are still affected, and have yet to engage, I can only really encourage people to reach out and get the support that they need.
"It's never too late, it's really never too late."
Working together to do the best they could
CHIEF Superintendent Wiseman said all emergency and functional services had to work together that dark and foggy night.
There had been a tragic and irreplaceable loss of life at the scene, but they did the best they could to save others.
Multiple passengers were seriously hurt and needed to be taken to hospitals across the Hunter and in Sydney.
Chief Superintendent Wiseman was the NSW Ambulance commander at the scene, supported by the zone manager and two inspectors.
About 40 operational NSW Ambulance staff, a chaplain, Toll and Westpac rescue helicopters with critical care teams from all over the state, and specialist resources such as intensive care paramedics and heavy rescue crews were tasked to the scene.
The first ambulance arrived in just seven minutes.
"We had a total of 27 patients which we conveyed to the hospital, and it was actually done in two hours and 27 minutes, which for an isolated area in the Upper Hunter Valley, is pretty exceptional," Chief Superintendent Wiseman said.
Police were crucial in ferrying medical teams from where the helicopters landed above the fog to the crash site, and transporting supplies from John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle.
The local health district stepped up to quickly provide operating theatres and patient offload areas. Staff stayed back to help.
"I think that's just a testament that we're so fortunate that we've got great collaboration with emergency services here in Newcastle, and I'm really proud to be a part of that," Chief Superintendent Wiseman said.
"It's from working with the local health districts, working with fellow emergency service colleagues, working with the functional service areas such as Transport [for NSW] ... we were really able to deliver what we could, acknowledging that it's a really tragic event for the families that are involved."
He said the operation was "exceptionally well coordinated" from the northern region control centre, with backing from other centres and aeromedical teams.
"I'd like to extend my thoughts and deepest condolences to the loved ones of those whose lives were lost, those who survived, and all those impacted by this tragic crash as they are faced with the 12-month anniversary of the incident," he said.
The first response heroes you might not hear about
IT WAS Sunday of the June long weekend and most crews were headed back to their stations when the NSW Ambulance northern control centre at Charlestown received its first call about a bus rollover.
Acting senior control centre officer Sharon Brady was the supervisor of about 20 staff that night, split between dispatching crews and taking emergency calls.
"Initially there were multiple calls to triple zero with conflicting information, so we weren't really sure what we were going to get," she told the Herald.
"We were all hoping it wasn't what it was going to be."
The team moved quickly to get a paramedic crew to the scene within minutes, who could feed back clear information, and spoke with the first police on the scene about what had happened.
A major incident board was created so everyone involved in the response could communicate with each other.
A massive amount of resources were needed at the Greta scene, but communities in Newcastle and the Central Coast still needed ambulance coverage, and the control centre had to continue taking calls for other emergencies.
"The staff that were finishing shift, that would normally be signed off and sent home, they stayed back," Ms Brady said.
"Every paramedic just wanted to keep helping and do whatever they could. Even if they weren't going to the job, they put their hands up to be able to stay back to service the community.
"The entire ambulance service pulled together, I was in awe of the entire team."
Ms Brady said dispatchers were renegotiating constantly through the two-and-a-half hour operation about which resources had been sent to the crash site and which were needed.
"We were able to pull together, come up with a plan, make sure we hadn't missed anything, make sure the staff welfare was entirely covered as well," she said.
The work to distribute resources continued after those first couple of urgent hours, through the night and into the next day.
Ms Brady shared her deepest condolences with the loved ones of the victims, and said her thoughts were with all those on the bus.
She said the tragedy had left no one untouched.
"To all of the emergency service personnel that were there, and their family and friends ... it's everyone, right down to the call-taker, to the call-taker's child, the dispatcher's child," she said.
"All of our family and friends are affected by us. It hasn't left anyone untouched I don't think, because it was so widespread.
"I just want to send out my condolences, love and support to everybody."
She said NSW Ambulance had multiple accessible support options, and the control centre crew looked out for each other too/
"For myself as a supervisor, it was the biggest, most significant event I have been a part of in my 21 years with NSW Ambulance," she said.
'They are truly some of the best'
COMMUNITY leaders have given their heartfelt thanks to emergency services for their work.
Upper Hunter MP Dave Layzell paid tribute to all those involved in the response ahead of the one-year anniversary of the bus crash on June 11.
"They are truly some of the best that we've got in our society," he told the Herald.
"They work really hard and we can't survive as a society without these amazing people that are willing to get up and go to the scenes of crashes and deal with things that are really confronting."
Fire and Rescue NSW declined being involved in this story due to the sensitive nature of the incident; NSW Police said it could not comment due to the ongoing court case against the bus driver.
Both organisations, along with others such as the Westpac and Toll rescue helicopters, the Rural Fire Service and the SES, played pivotal roles in the emergency response on June 11 last year, while the police investigation continued long after the crash site had been cleared.
- Support is available for those who may be distressed. Phone Lifeline 13 11 14; MensLine 1300 789 978; Kids Helpline 1800 551 800; beyondblue 1300 224 636; 1800-RESPECT 1800 737 732.
