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First responders to crash of Flight 5481: 'It didn't even seem real'
01/13/2003
Chief Jimmy Thompson, a 27-year veteran of the Charlotte Fire Department, heard the frantic radio crash and knew it was very serious. A newly released timeline shows how the events unfolded for Charlotte firefighters:
While crews battled the raging fire, they soon realized no one on board survived. “I’ve never been to a war but that’s what I think a war would look like,” said Cindy Overcash, Charlotte firefighter. “I mean, when that smoke cleared and you realized what was around you, it didn’t even seem real.” Overcash and Captain T.W. Bradshaw of the Charlotte Fire Department were one of the first firefighters to arrive on scene after Flight 5481 crashed killing all 21 people on board. “We did the best we could and there’s some situations where the best you can just doesn’t seem to be enough but it has to be,” Overcash said. “You’re thinking that you’re going to look there and you’re going to see an airplane and it doesn’t look like that,” Bradshaw said. “It looks like a super bad car wreck, just a lot of metal out there.” Bradshaw also assisted in the Eastern Air Crash in 1974 and US Airways crash in 1994. “It never looks like what you think it’s going to look like,” he said. More than 100 firefighters initially were called to the crash site and 35 had to stay behind to assist NTSB investigators.
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