A Sea to Sky School District bus en route to Howe Sound Secondary School stopped short of its destination when a fire ignited in the engine compartment on Wednesday (May 11).
The incident happened just before 9 a.m. Squamish Fire Rescue captain Russell Inouye arrived at the scene after the fire had been extinguished and shortly after RCMP had arrived.
They had a fire on the school bus that originated in the engine compartment and it was extinguished by the driver, he said.
The bus was carrying children at the time. I believe they're all high school kids, and all the children got off the bus safety. There were no injuries, nobody was hurt and it was a small fire that was brought under control by the driver.
Rick Hume, Sea to Sky School District facilities and services director, said the bus is a mess and it's being towed to North Vancouver to ICBC.
He commended bus driver Jean Davis for her quick thinking and brave reaction.
It was a full bus, so there would be about 60 kids on the bus and the driver sensed something, stopped and her first instinct was to get the kids off safely, Hume said.
Then she shut the bus off to stop any fuel from being pumped, got the fire extinguishers on board and she put the fire out.
Inouye said there was a small oil leak from the bus that firefighters and school district mechanics controlled and prevented from entering a nearby storm drain.
There was minimal environmental damage, he said.
According to an RCMP officer at the scene, the students were rushed off the bus but no one was hurt.
For more details on this story please see the May 13 print edition of The Chief.
