Quick thinking saves buses, as others burn in fire Wednesday
It was a stroke of quick thinking that kept an entire row of school buses from going up in flames on Wednesday night, the manager of the bus line said.
A fire engulfed six buses in flames at the Sharp Bus Lines yard on Maidstone Avenue around 8 p.m., said Crystal Williamson.
But it could have been worse: While those buses were retired and not in use on bus routes, quick thinking by a manager and bus driver saved seven more on-road buses used by drivers daily where the fire would have spread.
"So we moved buses out of there to keep it contained to the one area," said Williamson, regional manager of Sharp Bus Lines. Is quote missing something?
One of their bus driver who was across the street at the time saw the blaze and joined her in moving buses out of the way so the fire wouldn't continue to spread down the row.
"As I was pulling in, he was coming across and he's like …'can I help?' And I said, yes, let's start moving buses. We need to get buses out of the way ... he was really great, he was a great help."
Williamson said the "excellent" firefighters from both Essex and Lakeshore had the fire knocked down in about an hour, and were onsite for an investigation Wednesday night and Thursday.
Williamson said the fire did not impact Thursday morning's bus routes because the buses were retired. It was the ones they were able to quickly move and save from the fire that are in active service for students.
"We're afraid it was gonna spread through the whole row. And with the far end are buses that are on road, buses that drivers use every day," she said.
"So we started moving those away ... thank goodness they were off road buses and not buses we use every day because that would have been a big loss and because you want to be able to cover your routes in the morning."
