Crime & Safety

School Bus Catches on Fire After Completing Morning Drop-Off [Update with Video]

No injuries were reported.

A Stamford school bus caught on fire on the West Side Thursday morning after its driver completed his morning route and was returning to the yard. No injuries were reported.

According to Charles Spaulding, assistant fire chief of , the bus driver dropped students off at and was driving down Hubbard Avenue towards West Broad Street when he noticed that smoke was coming from the rear of the bus.

"He got as far as turning onto West Broad Street when he noticed the smoke," Spaulding told Patch. "He got out, went around and realized that it was more smoke than he anticipated. And the rest is history."

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Bystanders on West Broad Street called 911 at around 9:20 a.m. and Stamford Fire & Rescue responded to the call. It took about four or five minutes for firefighters to extinguish the fire, which broke most of the rear windows on the bus. Firefighters had to break the rest of the windows to allow smoke to escape.

While the cause of the fire is still under investigation, Spaulding said that the bus had stalled once before the driver picked up the children and that the fire started where the bus' entire mechanical system is located.

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"It could be the brakes or the electrical system, we don't know right now," he said.


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