Fire Destroys Chartiers Valley School Bus

Fire destroyed a Chartiers Valley school bus parked in the district’s storage depot Monday night, but firefighters were able to quickly extinguish the blaze before it spread to nearby buses in the Thoms Run Road facility.

Firefighters from , Rennerdale and Bridgeville were dispatched to the blaze around 6:15 p.m. and reported that the front of the bus was engulfed in flames. They were able to contain the fire to the No. 6 mini-bus, which was destroyed.

Presto firefighter J.P. Stavish said it took only a couple minutes to extinguish the fire with a foam material. The cause of the fire, which appeared to begin in the engine compartment, has not been determined.

District spokeswoman Kara Droney said a maintenance worker at the garage saw the bus on fire and called 911 before trying to contain it with an extinguisher until firefighters could arrive.

“Somebody from the staff was doing his rounds and noticed the fire,” she said.

Droney added that the school district has a spare mini-bus and the morning bus routes will continue on schedule Tuesday morning.

Firefighters closed a small stretch of Thoms Run Road near where the bus garage is located.

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