West Penn Township Police Cpl. John Kaczmarczyk was the first to arrive at the crash.

He rolled in with his cruiser’s lights flashing and sirens blaring, eager to get to the overturned car.

“Are you OK?,” he yelled inside.

A feeble, “No, I’m not OK,” came from the wreckage. “My back hurts. I can’t feel my legs.”

The victim was trapped, and Kaczmarczyk knew she could be seriously hurt.

Within seconds, the West Penn Fire Company arrived with tools to free the victim. Penn Mahoning Ambulance was right behind, and a medevac helicopter from the Lehigh Valley Health Network landed in a nearby field.

All the while, youngsters watched. It was just another day at West Penn Township CSI Camp.

“Everything is authentic,” explained Michele Bittner, camp coordinator - and the trapped “victim” from the crash scene.

The weeklong camp is in its 10th year, and affords youths in third to sixth grade the opportunity to learn about forensics from police officers and other emergency responders.

For Wednesday’s crash scenario, youths listened as Kaczmarczyk explained what was happening.

Once the “victim” was taken to the medical helicopter, campers were encouraged to ask questions. After that, they conducted their own investigation into the crash.

Bittner said different activities are held each day from the West Penn Township Elementary School.

“We did fingerprinting yesterday. The police officers show how they find the fingerprints and how they collect the fingerprints,” she explained.

Tuesday also meant a class on footprint casting.

West Penn Patrolman Jason Lorah mixed concrete, sand, plaster and other ingredients approved by the Pennsylvania State Police, so campers could try it themselves.

“The neat part is that it is so varied. We teach them everything from basic crime scene investigation to photography and casting footprints, accident investigation and forensics with chemicals,” Lorah said.

They’ll also be sitting in on a case at Magisterial District Judge A.J. Serina’s Orwigsburg court and visiting the Schuylkill County Communications Center in Pottsville.

“Friday is the day that we apply everything that they learned. We set up three or four crime scenes. They go through each scene and have the whole day to analyze the scene and collect information,” Bittner added.

West Penn Police Chief James Bonner said the camp also demonstrates how police work with fire and medical personnel. He was pleased that local responders took time from their schedules to attend the camp.

“It is a true brotherhood and sisterhood,” Bonner explained.

Both Bittner and Lorah said some of the first students they taught a decade ago have returned as counselors - and a few are pursuing careers in the field.

That’s exactly what camper Kendall Snowman, 10, of Tamaqua, hopes to do.

Kendall is attending the camp for the second time.

“She’s all about it. We came home last night to a crime scene,” said her mother, Magdalena Snowman.

Kendall planted a Nerf gun, bags of an “unknown substance” which was supposed to be some kind of a drug (but was actually flour and sugar, she admitted), and stacks of fake money she took from her brother, Mason, 7.

“She interviewed us” as potential suspects, Magdalena laughed. “And my husband, he was the suspect. So he took off. He ran.”

Kendall said she is interested in pursuing a career in forensics.