As he surveyed the scene, the paramedic said he saw one young victim. And then another. And another.

As the reality of what occurred inside the tiny one-room schoolhouse began to hit home, Solodky said he shifted into “autopilot.”

“Nothing went through my mind,” the paramedic from Lancaster Emergency Medical Services Association said during a news conference Monday night at Bart Township Fire Hall. “I knew what I needed to do, and I did it.”

That morning, Solodky worked side by side with Jodi Lefevre, an emergency medical technician with Bart Township Fire Company.

Lefevre said she was initially dispatched for an “emotional problem,” but once she got near the school police kept rescuers at bay.

“We couldn’t even see the school from where we were,” she said. “Then we heard some gunshots. When it was safe, they waved us in.”

It was then she saw the young victims.

“I did absolutely anything and everything I knew how to do,” said Lefevre, who described the scene as “organized chaos.”

“But I don’t think you can ever truly be trained for something like that.”

Solodky, Lefevre and several other first responders said they will never be able to erase the images of the 10 young Amish girls, ages 6 to 13, who were gunned down by 32-year-old Charles Carl Roberts IV. Roberts then turned the gun on himself.

Five of the girls died, and five were critically or seriously wounded. At present, four remain hospitalized and one has returned home.

Members of the fire department have undergone multiple debriefings, and counseling will continue as long as necessary, he said.

“We’ve all had our moments, I’m not ashamed to admit that,” said Curt Woerth, Bart Township fire chief.

Two days after the incident, Solodky said he “had his moment.” He didn’t want to talk about it any further, however, saying he was “a little too proud to discuss my emotions.”

“Those images will stay with all of us, and everyone will deal with it in a different way,” Woerth said. “But we will lean on each other.”

Upon arriving that day, Woerth said he saw state troopers carrying the children from the school and laying them in the grass.

“In my opinion, what the state police did was nothing less than heroic,” Woerth said. “I truly believe they saved lives that day.”

Bart Township Fire Company EMT Dennis Fromm also commended state police and lauded the teamwork of all the agencies that responded to the scene.

“(State troopers) brought these children out, and they stayed with the girls,” he said. “Each one stayed with a girl and took care of them the best they could.”

Fromm said state police made sure the scene was orderly so medical crews could attend to the victims.

“Each unit came in, and each did their job,” Fromm said. “Everyone worked together and helped each other. It was an amazing thing.”

Woerth said the tragedy will live with each person who responded.

“There’s a bond between each and every one of us who were in that schoolyard that day that will never go away,” Woerth said.

Woerth said 69 fire companies from eight counties provided assistance during and after the incident.

In the midst of saving lives, Mike Hoover, director of Bart Fire Company’s Quick Response Services, said he doesn’t think anyone realized the event would become an international news story.

“We took it personal,” Hoover said. “It was our personal hurt, and we didn’t think about how it would affect the world.”

That hurt continued the next day, when members of the Bart fire company returned to the site to carry out another difficult task — cleaning the blood-spattered schoolhouse.

“We did it because that’s what we do,” said Woerth. “This is our community — we’re all one down here.” blog comments powered by Disqus