Mars Area bus crash injures 7 students, driver; parents seek answers
ADAMS TWP — In the wake of a bus crash Thursday, March 6, that injured the driver and seven elementary students in the Mars Area School District, parents are speculating on the reason for the crash.
The bus driver and seven juveniles were transported to area hospitals after a school bus crashed into a tree around 8:30 a.m. near 1619 Three Degree Road. UPMC Children’s Hospital public relations spokesperson confirmed that all seven students were discharged by 4:30 p.m.
The Butler Eagle spoke with three parents, who all questioned the driver’s health following the Thursday crash, where the bus struck a tree head on.
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The aftermath of a bus crash on Three Degree Road in Adams Township on Thursday, March 6, 2025. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
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The aftermath of a bus crash on Three Degree Road in Adams Township on Thursday, March 6, 2025. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
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The aftermath of a bus crash on Three Degree Road in Adams Township on Thursday, March 6, 2025. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
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The aftermath of a bus crash on Three Degree Road in Adams Township on Thursday, March 6, 2025. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
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The aftermath of a bus crash on Three Degree Road in Adams Township on Thursday, March 6, 2025. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
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The aftermath of a bus crash on Three Degree Road in Adams Township on Thursday, March 6, 2025. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
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The aftermath of a bus crash on Three Degree Road in Adams Township on Thursday, March 6, 2025. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
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The aftermath of a bus crash on Three Degree Road in Adams Township on Thursday, March 6, 2025. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
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The aftermath of a bus crash on Three Degree Road in Adams Township on Thursday, March 6, 2025. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
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The aftermath of a bus crash on Three Degree Road in Adams Township on Thursday, March 6, 2025. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
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The aftermath of a bus crash on Three Degree Road in Adams Township on Thursday, March 6, 2025. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
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The aftermath of a bus crash on Three Degree Road in Adams Township on Thursday, March 6, 2025. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
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The aftermath of a bus crash on Three Degree Road in Adams Township on Thursday, March 6, 2025. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
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The aftermath of a bus crash on Three Degree Road in Adams Township on Thursday, March 6, 2025. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
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The aftermath of a bus crash on Three Degree Road in Adams Township on Thursday, March 6, 2025. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
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The aftermath of a bus crash on Three Degree Road in Adams Township on Thursday, March 6, 2025. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
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The aftermath of a bus crash on Three Degree Road in Adams Township on Thursday, March 6, 2025. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
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The aftermath of a bus crash on Three Degree Road in Adams Township on Thursday, March 6, 2025. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
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The aftermath of a bus crash on Three Degree Road in Adams Township on Thursday, March 6, 2025. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
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The aftermath of a bus crash on Three Degree Road in Adams Township on Thursday, March 6, 2025. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
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The aftermath of a bus crash on Three Degree Road in Adams Township on Thursday, March 6, 2025. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
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The aftermath of a bus crash on Three Degree Road in Adams Township on Thursday, March 6, 2025. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
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The aftermath of a bus crash on Three Degree Road in Adams Township on Thursday, March 6, 2025. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
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Adams Township police officers put up caution tape after a school bus crash Thursday, March 6, 2025, on Three Degree Road. Several people on the bus, including Mars Area School District students, were injured in the crash. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
Brooke Farrell, a parent who lives along the bus route, said she removed her children from the bus in 2023 after a previous crash that she claimed involved the same driver at Mars Area Centennial School. A bus rear-ended another bus at that time.
Farrell said she saw the bus on Thursday about four minutes before the crash, as her neighbor’s children ride the bus. She said she knew of five children on the bus taken to UPMC Children’s Hospital of PIttsburgh.
“Mars is a great school, but I think they’re short on (bus) drivers,” she said.
Adams Area Fire Chief Talo Capuzzi said the driver was transported to Allegheny General Hospital in PIttsburgh. Butler County Emergency Services dispatch said over the scanner that the driver was entrapped and not alert.
No update on the driver’s condition was immediately available. The Eagle was not immediately able to connect with Allegheny General Hospital.
A mass-casualty incident was declared by Callery Volunteer Fire Department Assistant Chief Randy Hoffman Jr., he said, to get EMS units to the scene more quickly because of the number of potential injuries. No medical helicopters were at the scene.
Capuzzi, who took command of the scene when he arrived, called the crash a “high mechanism crash,” explaining that the driver needed to be extracted from the wrecked bus. Another report heard over the emergency dispatch indicated 30 to 40 students were on the bus.
While at the scene, Capuzzi praised the emergency dispatch for the unit’s organization and direction during the incident.
The district released a statement on its website Thursday making parents and guardians aware bus No. 21 was involved in the crash. It said counselors were available for students Thursday. The district has an in-service day scheduled Friday, however guidance counselors will be available and are planned to be there Monday also.
“Any students, who sustained injury and required further medical assistance, were transported to the hospital,” Superintendent Mark Gross said in the statement. “Those students, who showed no signs of injury and were determined by EMS to be ‘not injured,’ were placed on another bus and continued their journey to school.
“Upon arriving at school, these students were checked by the school nurse before reporting to class,” the statement said.
District transportation director Christine Smith could not be reached Thursday afternoon. A.J. Myers and Sons, Inc., the bus company involved, declined to comment Thursday morning.
Adams Township police are investigating the cause of the crash.
Callery Volunteer Fire Department, Cranberry Township Volunteer Fire Company and EMS, Harmony Area Fire District and EMS, Middlesex Township Volunteer Fire Company, Penn Township Volunteer Fire Department, Adams Township police, state police, Quality EMS, Richland EMS and units from UPMC Passavant and Allegheny Health Network also responded.
