An ordinary family drive turning into an extraordinary rescue.

“My son and wife were in the vehicle with me. And my boy just started screaming no no no over and over.”

It happened in seconds.

A bus plunging off Highway 39 near Mackenzie – and into a ditch.

Rich Rogers ran toward the wreckage.

“I can’t even remember if I said it out loud or if it was just in my head, Man I hope the bus is empty. And then I started sprinting towards the bus,” said Rogers.

But the bus wasn’t empty.

Inside and out there were 20 people hurt. Some seriously. Including one passenger who had been thrown from the vehicle.

“I couldn’t feel any movement or chest risings or anything,” said Rogers.

“Thankfully, a lot of blood came out and the person started breathing again.”

Rogers performing a potential lifesaving move.

And he wasn’t done yet.

He climbed back into the bus with passengers scattered inside.

 “I realized that the vehicle was still running. So I put the vehicle into park and then shut the keys off.”

“[There were] at least two or three people in the vehicle that were unconscious.”

Rogers is a former firefighter, a dream career he let go of. But training he couldn’t forget.

“I knew I just had to help. There was nothing else. There was no other option.”

Rogers’ wife watched it all unfold.

First calling 911 for help and then later her husband “the biggest hero of that day.” 

“I don’t really think of myself as a hero. I just think of myself as [in] wrong place, right time, right skills.”

Northern Health says all twenty people were treated in hospital, with 15 since released and no word on the condition of the remaining five.

The cause of Wednesday’s crash remains under investigation.