Southern states fire alert: School bus fire occurred in same make and model as previous blazes

February 9, 2012
School bus fire occurred in same make and model as previous blazes
By Cleve R. Wootson Jr. and Ann Doss Helms | McClatchy Newspapers

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Charlotte-Mecklenburg school bus that caught fire Wednesday afternoon was the same make and model as other buses that have gone up in flames in North Carolina in the past two years, prompting state officials to send at least one cautionary memo to school systems.

State and local officials say they don't think the cause of Wednesday's fire in southeast Charlotte was the same as previous fires, but an inspector from Freightliner, the bus manufacturer's parent company, is headed to Charlotte to determine the cause of the blaze.

Officials believe school bus No. 295 started emanating smoke and then caught fire because of a problem with a motor for a fan heater, according to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Associate Superintendent Guy Chamberlain.

No one was injured in the fire, which sent flames and black smoke high into the air. The bus driver, Lindora Richardson, and six students were on board. She moved the students to safety, lowering some out the back door. She was hailed as a hero on Thursday by CMS officials, even as video of the inferno was broadcast on national news stations.

The bus was a Freightliner FS-65 with a Thomas Built Buses body. Thomas Built, a Freightliner subsidiary, has a plant in High Point.

Seemingly spontaneous fires involving the buses have raised questions in other parts of the Carolinas in recent years. Television station WNCT in Greenville, N.C., investigated last year after a Thomas Built bus fire there. The station found that between 2010 and 2011, at least four of the five school buses that caught fire around the state were FS-65 buses.

Those buses were 10-12 years old. Bus No. 295 was 13 years old.

State officials told WNCT four of the fires were caused when wires in the engine compartment dropped onto the turbo manifold, an engine part that gets hot.

State officials sent a memo to all N.C. school districts informing them of the problem, and suggesting a fix.

It is unclear whether CMS made the fix on bus No. 295.

Because the blaze left extensive fire damage, CMS officials are waiting on the Freightliner inspector to make a determination on the cause, Chamberlain said. The inspector from Freightliner is expected to arrive on Monday.

Chamberlain said CMS mechanics have seen nothing that leads them to believe Wednesday's fire is similar to the earlier bus fires, or that any other CMS buses are at risk.

About 700 of CMS' 1,100 buses are Thomas Built, Chamberlain said, but fewer than 10 are as old as the bus that burned Wednesday, which was built in 1999.

When asked whether school buses are safe, Brad Johnson, a CMS transportation director, responded, "Yes, sir, absolutely."

The charred bus sat at the back of a bus maintenance facility on Thursday, but district officials wouldn't let reporters near it, saying the investigation was ongoing.

Derek Graham, transportation chief for the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, says school districts are expected to inspect their own buses every 30 days. Once a year the state inspects 10 percent of the fleet - the bus that burned was not among the 10 percent selected this year.

Graham said Wednesday's fire does not appear to fit the pattern of previous bus fires.

"It's pretty rare that one burns to the degree of this one, but it's not unheard of."

He said school bus seats are made with fire-retardant material, but anything will burn if subjected to flames long enough.

"School buses are still the safest way for kids to get to and from school," Graham said. "We're thankful everybody did their job and got out of harm's way."

Richardson, the bus driver, said she first sensed trouble when she smelled something weird coming from her bus as she neared the end of her route.

It was different from the diesel fumes and exhaust that typically emanate from the heavy vehicles. It smelled, Richardson recalled, like burning wires.

Richardson, who was taking six children home from Chantilly Montessori School around 5 p.m., stopped the bus.

Then smoke began pouring into the bus from the front console.

She corralled the children to the back of the bus, and then escaped with them through the back door, even lowering some of the smaller children to the ground.

They watched as flames engulfed the bus and smoke poured out of the windows.

Video footage captured by someone who lives near the site of the fire and posted on YouTube shows black smoke pouring from the bus. Flames in the front of the bus quickly spread, shooting from the windows. A firefighter who arrived at the scene is seen stepping onto the bus, working to douse the flames.

"I was just glad I was able to get them off safely. I think it was a little more exciting for them because there was a fire," Richardson said.

On Thursday, Richardson's colleagues and the school district hailed her as a hero, crediting her with saving the lives of the children, who ranged in age from 5 to 10.

She credited her training. CMS bus drivers go through quarterly training sessions; a recent one dealt with getting students off a bus in an emergency.

(Staff researcher Maria David contributed.)

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