It closed off Rt. 40 near Rt. 15.
Frederick, Md (KM) An electric TransIT bus caught fire on Tuesday morning in Frederick
Battalion Chief Kevin fox with Frederick County Fire and Rescue Services says personnel were dispatched to Route 40 just east of Route 15 at around 9:00 AM for a bus on fire. “When crews arrived, they did have fire coming from some batteries on the top of the bus. It cause a significant amount of damage,” he said
Fire fighters spent one hour bringing the flames under control. But Fox says they had to use a different method of dousing the fires. “It required that we utilize dry chemical extinguishers as well as foam to put it out,” he says.
“We have haz mat crews that also responded out to test our runoff,” says Fox. “Because of the battery involvement with the lithium and ion, we wanted to make sure that the PH and such were okay on the water that was running off from the extinguishment efforts.”
Route 40 was closed while fire fighters put out the flames. It was reopened just before 11:30 AM.
There were no injuries from this fire, and the driver was the only person on board at the time of the fire. “The driver recognized that the bus was on fire and made the call to 911. There were no fire fighter or civilian injuries,” Fox says.
He says the cause is being labeled accidental, possibly to a mechanical issue.
By Kevin McManus