Some scary moments for elementary students on board a school bus in our state Wednesday after the bus burst into flames.
Flames and thick smoke poured from the bus in Charlotte. Luckily all of the elementary students were able to get off safely. The bus that caught fire was a Thomas built bus. That's the same brand as other buses that have gone up in flames in North Carolina over the past couple of years. One of those fires happened in Pitt County back in March. Pitt County School transportation officials say they were directed by Thomas to check certain areas of the bus to try and avoid any further problems. Joey Weatherington says these days with the upgrading of buses it just means there's more that can go wrong.
"The nature of the buses being built to allow for more comfort of the students, air conditioning, and the driver, it's a totally different bus than it was several years ago with all the electronics and electrical equipment on it," said Weatherington.
There are around 200 school buses in Pitt County, officials say more than half of those are Thomas built buses. A Thomas representative is heading to Charlotte to investigate the bus fire there.
