SHERMAN, TX-- Exactly two years after a major bus crash kills 17 travelers, Sherman first responders still vividly recall the deadly accident.

The guard rail has been replaced, and the grass has all grown back. But, for Sherman resident, and fire chief Jeff Jones, the scene from two years ago is easily recalled.

"When I topped the hill, I really had a theater view of what was going on,” Jones, said. “It was really surreal, to see the flames on the bus, and see the position of the bus; it was close to the creek and to see the fatalities, that were already laid out."

Just after midnight, on August 8th of 2008, a charter bus carrying 55, mostly Vietnamese passengers to a religious celebration from Houston to Missouri, lost control, and crashed near the Center Street exit on Highway 75.

Greg Middents was the Justice of the Peace at the time, and declared the deaths of 12 bodies at the scene.

5 victims later died at area hospitals.

"A horrible accident like this, you know, you aren't prepared for it. But, you know what to do. The adrenaline kicks in, you do what you need to, and you get out of there and let the police and firefighters do what you need to do," Middents, said.

Emergency responders came from all over north Texas and southern Oklahoma to assist in the transport of survivors to area hospitals, which included more than 15 medical helicopters that surrounded the crash site.

Jones says the crash was the worst site many of his staff had ever seen, but that they've made several positive changes as a result.

"We actually have a vehicle on a trailer dedicated to something like this that can respond regionally. At 1am on a Thursday morning, how do you get 100 backboards, how do you get the supplies necessary to treat 60 patients. We've got those gathered together now," Jones, said.

Civil suits are still pending against the surviving driver of the bus. Drug tests indicated that trace amounts of cocaine were found in Barrett Broussards system, and the bus was being driven with a temporary license plate, prohibiting it from leaving the state.