09/17/2026
Ten years ago today, on September 17, 2016, Richmond County Public Safety showed exactly what our community is made of.
Shortly after lunch on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, tragedy struck a group of young football players and coaches from Ramah Juco Academy when their bus suffered a tire failure on the U.S. 74 Bypass and crashed into a concrete bridge column.
Four lives were lost that day, and more than 40 others were injured. In a matter of moments, what had been an ordinary Saturday became one of the most significant mass-casualty incidents our county had ever faced.
Our 9-1-1 Communications Center was immediately inundated with calls from the scene. EMS, rescue, fire, law enforcement, Emergency Management, and communications personnel across Richmond County went to work. Every available EMS and rescue ambulance responded, with additional ambulances coming from Scotland, Marlboro, Chesterfield, and Moore counties. Four medical helicopters were also requested to assist with transporting the critically injured.
Within approximately 45 minutes, the patients had been triaged, treated, packaged, and transported to six different hospitals.
Hamlet Fire and Rescue took the lead on the incident because it occurred within their response area, and their personnel did an outstanding job managing an incredibly difficult and complex scene. Agencies from throughout Richmond County came together seamlessly to support them.
Volunteers showed up in numbers. Off-duty personnel came in without being asked. Units and resources were placed into service wherever they were needed. Our Emergency Management team assisted with accountability and documentation, while our 9-1-1 telecommunicators managed an overwhelming call volume and coordinated the tremendous number of resources needed at the scene.
There were different uniforms, different agencies, different responsibilities, and responders from multiple counties, but on that afternoon there was only one mission: take care of the people who needed us.
It was teamwork at its finest.
We will always remember the four lives lost that day and the players, coaches, families, and others whose lives were forever changed by the events of September 17, 2016.
But the story did not end on the highway that afternoon.
In the year that followed, many of those same responders came together again—not for an emergency, but to support the Ramah Juco Academy family. Through a boot drive at Walmart and the Richmond Raider football game, responders raised $5,000 for the team. In September 2017, on the day Ramah played its first-ever football game, we had the privilege of presenting those funds to them.
It was a full-circle moment that none of us will forget.
Ten years later, the Richmond County Emergency Services Office remains deeply grateful for every firefighter, EMT, paramedic, rescue squad member, law enforcement officer, Emergency Management staff member, 9-1-1 telecommunicator, volunteer, neighboring agency, hospital, flight crew, and community member who answered the call that day.
September 17, 2016, was a day of tremendous tragedy, but it was also a day that demonstrated the strength of public safety partnerships, mutual aid, volunteer service, and a community willing to come together when people needed us most.
Ten years later, we remember.
Ten years later, we remain grateful.
Ten years later, we are still proud to say:
Richmond for Ramah.
