HOLLY SPRINGS, N.C. — (WNCN) — A fire onboard a Wake County school bus this morning is the second one in 3 months to break out.
The U.S. Department of Transportation says school buses are the safest vehicles on the road, but it also says one to two school buses burn every day in this country.
WNCN reports Wake County school bus 309 caught fire outside of Holly Springs High School earlier this week.
When the flames were spotted school officials tried unsuccessfully to fight it with fire extinguishers after a child in the care of the bus driver was safely removed from the bus.
WNCN tells us it’s the second time a fire erupted in a Wake County bus recently.
Back in October, a passerby caught a bus burning in Cary and recorded it on home video.
One student and the bus driver evacuated. No one was hurt in that incident either.
WNCN says when it comes to school bus fires a federal government study says they occur more frequently than fires in regular buses and the majority start on the engine compartment.
That’s where turbochargers make the engines run hotter in a space where oil and other fluids can collect over time.
WNCN reports the NTSB recommends all school busses have fire suppression systems in the engine compartment but when Consumer Investigator Steve Sbraccia brought the issue the attention state Dept public instruction in October they said:
“DPI transportation Services is aware that these recommendations have been made. We monitor actions by NTSB. To our knowledge, none of these recommendations has been acted upon.”
In other words, the state won’t require fire suppression systems in school buses.
Documents CBS 17 obtained show school buses in the state are only required to have three kinds of fire safety equipment – a fire blanket, fire block upholstery fabric, and a fire extinguisher.