UPDATE: CAMPBELL BUS LINES SAYS TODAY’S ELECTRIC BUS FIRE ‘HOT SPOT’ WAS LOCATED IN ‘POWER STEERING’ UNDER FRONT SEAT
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com
HUNTSVILLE — This morning’s electric bus fire was the result of a “power steering” problem under the front.
Trish Bennett, area supervisor for Campbell Bus Lines, in Huntsville, said that’s where the hot spot was.
It had nothing to do with the battery, she said.
“And it wasn’t broken down,” as previously reported by police and fire officials.
“I wished they’d asked me when it happened,” she told MuskokaTODAY.com when reached this afternoon.
The Campbell Bus Lines bus was taking students to four Trillium Lakelands District School schools: Spruce Glen Public School, Riverside Public School, Huntsville Public School and Huntsville High School — and St. Mary Catholic School.
Bennett said there were 18 students on board — said Carolynne Bull, TLDSB’s media officer when contacted.
When the bus driver was picking up students along Earl’s Road they noticed “smoke” coming from “under the seat” and immediately pulled over.
The driver called Bennett, who said she called 911.
And requested a backup bus.
Campbell’s bus yard is nearby on Kinton Avenue.
She said students were gone before the fire enveloped the bus destroying it.
“It was all within five minutes.”
The electric bus — a 2018 model — is the only one Campbell’s have among their fleet of 75 — 54 of which make school runs daily.
They also drive two of the Town of Huntsville’s transit buses. Hammond Transportation operates the others.
Bennett said the driver, who she wouldn’t identify, was “absolutely amazing” and “did exactly what they were supposed to do.
“There’s nothing that could have been done to save the bus, because it’s all plastic and fibre glass.”
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