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Conover served at scene of deadly UPS crash By Katelynn M. Molesky / The Adair Progress On November 4, 2025, an unexpected tragedy unfolded that left many in shock: A cargo plane, UPS Airlines Flight 2976, departing from Louisville's Muhammad Ali International Airport to Honolulu, crashed due to a catastrophic failure during takeoff. The devastating incident claimed the lives of 15 people, caused extensive destruction, and left a profound and lasting impact on those involved. Just minutes after the crash, a team of courageous first responders raced to the scene, battling flames and doing everything they could to aid victims. One such individual was Columbian John Conover, who has dedicated just over two decades to Louisville Metro EMS. Conover, here well known as drummer of Green River Band, was one of the first to respond to the disaster. For him, it all began during the last hours of his shift when he was interrupted from his paperwork by a phone call requesting a mass casualty bus. Confused, he asked for more information, thus learning about the crash. "Basically I just ran out of my office and got one of my co-workers to get the bus ready," Conover recalls. "Then I went outside to get my car - and I just remember when I came around the backside of our building, the sky was just completely blacked out from all the smoke. I was probably one of the first people to get there within the first few minutes after the crash." Upon arrival, he was greeted by mass chaos and a situation he describes as being "surreal". Flames were spreading rapidly, black smoke limited visibility, and nearby fuel tanks continued to heat and explode. "Basically, we just ran into unknowns," he said. "You've got to prepare for the worst. Our first priority on something like that was organizing what's going to come later." So, Conover and the rest set up a makeshift headquarters and casualty collection point at a familiar business called Stooge's Bar and Grill where they began assessing the situation. "We were told that that bar was probably closer than we should have been," he remarks. "So we actually had to back up a little bit because all that smoke from jet fuel and everything burning was basically just blowing right over us. So we smelt that for hours. And within like 45 minutes, we were getting calls of people finding bodies in parking lots and stuff like that." Unfortunately, many victims were beyond saving. However the EMS remained on call to try and help anyone who was found. For many hours, Conover and other responders were on the scene, doing the best they could to get everything under control. Despite many years of experience, this fateful evening had brought the worst and most complicated situation Conover had ever dealt with. "I've worked some bad car accidents while working on the interstate for years - you know, like semi crashes," he said. "And at one point the zoo there in Louisville had a train that derailed and a lot of people were hurt. Also, just a few months prior to this plane crash, we had a factory explode with a lot of victims in it. So I would say up to the plane crash, the factory was probably one of the biggest, wildest incidents that I had been a part of. But to the extent of a plane crash, I would say I never had to deal with anything close to that. I had been doing like 20 and a half years at the time when that plane crashed. So really, I hadn't seen anything like that up to that point." "When I got there, it was the first time ever in my career that I was just not sure what was gonna happen," he recalled. "I was wondering are we even going to come home from this?" As he worked on the front lines and faced an environment that could've surely killed him, Conover's thoughts kept wandering back to his family at home and he yearned to be with them. In fact, he even recorded a short video for his wife on Snapchat, telling her that he loved her just in case he didn't ever get the chance to tell her again. "Tell your family and friends that you love them all the time," he insists. "Because you just don't know when you're not gonna be able to tell them again." Thankfully, he was able to walk away from the scene physically unharmed, and eventually, thanks to hours of hard work from the numerous individuals on site, the situation was under control. Unfortunately however, there was no way to reverse the damage that had been done - whether physically or mentally. For Conover, the experience had left a major lasting impact on his mind. "There were definitely some long sleepless nights after that," he said, thoughtfully. "You know, it's just something your brain can't really process. You can't ever prepare for something like this." But despite the unpredictability of life, people can rely on first responders like John Conover to race towards danger while others flee. Yet many seem to forget that beneath the uniforms and heroism, these brave men and women are just as profoundly human as anyone else, each carrying a courage within that compels them to risk their lives for people that they have never even met. This story was posted on 2026-05-11 22:54:12
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