School district officials in Johnston and Wake counties have completed special inspections of Thomas Built Buses received in 1998 and 1999 and announced they are safe, regardless of their model year after a bus burst into flames last month.
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After six students and the driver escaped the bus before it burst into flames on Feb. 8, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) School Transportation section directed all 115 school districts statewide to perform special bus inspections. The vehicle involved in this fire was a 1999 Thomas Built FS-65.
Officials from Thomas Built Buses said the company communicated the results of its investigation into the cause of the Feb. 8 fire to the NCDPI and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district.
“The investigation revealed that the fire originated in the engine compartment near the center of the vehicle on the water valve at the rear of the engine. An area of direct contact was noted between the grid heater wire and the water valve. This contact created the short circuit that led to the fire,” read the company’s statement.
Initial reports indicated the fire started in the bus’ switch panel, and NCDPI’s preliminary investigation concluded the short was caused by worn wire coverings from that contact between the heater wire and metal valve.
Derek Graham, section chief of NCDPI School Transportation Services, said any other Thomas buses with similar wiring issues were likely shipped from the summer of 1998 through 1999.
“We were very fortunate that the incident earlier this month did not result in any injuries to students or the bus driver,” said Graham. “In that situation, only six students were on the bus, and the school bus driver reacted quickly and evacuated all students well before flames entered the passenger area. Now that we have more information about the likely cause of this fire, we want to use this information to be more diligent in preventing any other incidents.”
Wake County Public Schools operates 136 Thomas Built Buses from those years but had workers inspect all 402 of the Freightliner FS-65 models, according to spokesman Greg Thomas. He also said school bus mechanics would check that specific wire covering until told otherwise. Johnston County Transportation Director Billy Sugg confirmed that his department inspected all of its Freightliner FS-65 models as well.
Under state law, district transportation departments must inspect their buses every 30 days.
“Our FS-65 model school bus has a strong service record, with the oldest of these vehicles now approaching 13 years of reliable operation,” stated Thomas Built Buses. “To our knowledge, there have been no similar instances of fires of this nature in FS-65 buses, in North Carolina or other locations.”
