Kootenay Lake School bus catches fire; cause unknown
By Nelson Daily Staff
Transportation staff at Kootenay Lake School scrambled to get students to school in the Slocan Valley after a bus caught fire at its Brent Kennedy compound early Friday (January 9) morning.
A passing motorist noticed burning bus and quickly called 9-1-1 to alert emergency crews.
“I got the call at 6 a.m. that someone driving by noticed that a bus was on fire,” Larry Brown, Director of Operations for Kootenay Lake School District Maintenance and Transportation told The Nelson Daily Monday.
“They called 9-1-1 and RCMP and Crescent Valley Fire Department responded to the scene.”
The bus yard is located next to Brent Kennedy Elementary School on Highway 6, one kilometer from the Highway 3A/6 junction in South Slocan.
Brown, who arrived on the scene soon after getting the call, said firefighters got the gate of the chain-linked fenced compound open and dragged the bus away from the other two before extinguishing the fire.
The bus that caught fire was severely damaged while the other two suffered minor damage.
“The one bus has a lot of damage while the other two had heat damage — blistered paint and busted or cracked windows — due to the heat of fire in the burning bus,” Brown explained.
Brown said the bus that caught fire is a 2008 International while the other two buses are 2010 and 2012 Internationals.
“The 2008 International had 200,030 kilometers on it when it was serviced in July 2014,” Brown said. “We were hoping to get a couple of more years out of it.”
Brown is hopeful the 2010 and 2012 buses can be repaired and is waiting for a commercial inspector with the Ministry of Transportation to determine the cause of the fire.
“I’ve spoken with the RCMP and they don’t believe its arson,” said Brown, adding tarps have been placed on the buses to secure the fire scene.
“We’re now waiting for commercial vehicle inspector (Don Allenby) to attend the scene to determine the cause.”
Brown said the buses are plugged in during the winter months — block heaters are used to keep bus engines warm and ready to start on the coldest mornings — but had electricians check the wiring to the vehicles, which came up negative.
Everyone, including the bus company, is eagerly awaiting the cause of the fire.
Brown said the cost of a new bus is approximately $100,000.
After receiving the call, Brown said the district substituted other buses into the schedule for Friday to transport students to and from school.
Maintenance staff has now secured a spare bus from Creston and Nelson to add to the fleet until new buses can be brought in or the damaged buses are repaired through insurance.
Brown said Kootenay Lake School District has five new buses on order and the company has pushed up the order to guarantee there is no future shortage.
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