May 24, 2012
Public school systems across the state have been instructed to inspect every bus in their fleet, after a fire on a school bus earlier this month.
A bus driver in Charlotte acted quickly to get all the children safely off a burning bus on February 8. State officials say the fire started because of a worn out wire covering, that may have caused a short, and then the fire.
"We were very fortunate that the incident earlier this month did not result in any injuries to students or the bus driver," said NCDPI School Transportation Services Section Chief Derek Graham. "In that situation, only six students were on the bus, and the school bus driver reacted quickly and evacuated all students well before flames entered the passenger area. Now that we have more information about the likely cause of this fire, we want to use this information to be more diligent in preventing any other incidents."
Now school systems have been directed to check the intake heater wires on all buses to make sure fires like that one don't happen again.
In North Carolina, approximately 13,700 school buses transport public school students to school, according to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.
Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
