LAPLACE, La. (WGNO) – Funeral services for St. John the Baptist Parish Fire Chief Spencer Chauvin will take place Thursday at the St. John Parish Community Center.
The memorial service and visitation is from 8:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. At 1 p.m., a procession will leave the center and head to St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Edgard for a mass and burial on church grounds.
Chauvin, 36, of Gramercy, was killed Sunday while responding to a crash on I-10 West near LaPlace. A charter bus – driven by an undocumented immigrant and carrying undocumented relief workers to help with flood relief – crashed into the crash scene.
Chauvin was standing with two firefighters by the interstate guardrail. The firefighters had used one of their trucks to block the right lane of the interstate so they, police and the towing company could deal with the crash.
A state trooper had his patrol car parked with blue lights flashing to warn early morning drivers. At least two other cars — a Toyota Camry and a Chevrolet Silverado — were stopped behind the emergency vehicles.
The 2002 Eldorado National bus, which was speeding, closed in on the crash scene and clipped the fire truck, police said.
The bus then struck the rear of the Camry, shoving it into the rear of the Silverado and a flatbed trailer.
The bus then veered and struck all three firefighters, hurling them into water about 35-feet below, police said.
Chauvin died at a hospital, police said.
The other person killed, Jermaine Starr, 21, of Moss Point, Mississippi, was in the backseat of the Camry, police said.
