We are learning more about the emergency response to a church van crash on Chapman Highway last weekend that left two people dead. 911 calls from that crash were released Thursday afternoon.
The crash killed 16-year-old Courteney Kaliszewski and 45-year-old Jeff Trussell, and injured 10 other Cedar Grove Baptist youth members.
We have learned the first call to come into the Sevier County 911 center was from Jeff Trussell's wife.
It is very tought to listen to, and for that reason, we are not going to play it on our air, but dispatchers shared with us other calls that give us an idea of how authorities learned of the accident and began their response.
> 9-1-1. Where is your emergency?
> Please, there's been an awful wreck.
> Is it Chapman and Zion?
> On Chapman Highway outside of Sevierville.
> Ok, we are going to help en route. Are you there with them?
> Yes, a van has flipped over. A Cedar Grove Baptist Church van has flipped over.
> Is there multiple people inside?
> Yes, and they are bleeding and there are people trapped and the van is smoking.
We know that an SUV crossed the center line of Chapman Highway and collided with the van head on. The van flipped and landed in a ditch.
We learned from listening to the calls that the van caught fire shortly after the first call, while dispatchers were on the phone with Trussell's wife.
At one point, a first responder asked dispatch to tell other responders to "step it up every chance they got."
The calls also give us a timeline. The first call came in at 9:26 Sunday morning. Emergency crews were dispatched two minutes later.
At 9:34, a Sevier County firefighter called in and reported that the van was on fire and that a victim was trapped inside. Documents show the first ambulance arrived at 9:40, 14 minutes after the first 911 call.
Multiple counties responded to the scene, more than 26 individual units, according to Sevier County 911.
At last check, all but one of the injured had been released from the hospital.