By Alan Levin
USA TODAY
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All Rights Reserved
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Bus fires like the one that killed 23 elderly people fleeing Hurricane Rita last September pose a significant problem that has largely gone unreported, federal accident investigators said Tuesday.
As many as 2,600 fires break out each year on all types of buses, but the exact number is unknown because the blazes are not tracked in any central database, according to a fire safety expert who testified before the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).”
There is a big issue here that we are just beginning to understand,” said NTSB board member Kathryn Higgins, who was conducting the hearing. The NTSB may recommend new safety measures to reduce the risk of such fires.
The 23 deaths on the morning of Sept. 23 marked the accident as the most deadly stemming from Hurricane Rita.
The driver and 21 passengers escaped the bus, which was on Interstate 45 in Wilmer, Texas, ferrying people from a Houston-area nursing home to Dallas. Oxygen tanks used by passengers soon fueled intense flames.
Investigators traced the fire to an overheated ball bearing on the bus’s rear-right wheel, which ignited a tire. Federal regulators shut down the company’s bus operations after the fire. The company, Global Limo of Pharr, Texas, had failed three previous safety reviews.
Marty Ahrens of the National Fire Protection Association said an analysis of reports from local fire departments showed that there are 2,000 to 2,600 fires a year on all types of buses, including school buses and motor coaches.
“We’ve been yelling and screaming for years that someone should do something about this,” said Larry Plachno, a former bus company owner who edits National Bus Trader magazine.
The NTSB has found numerous other safety problems in its investigation of the bus fire.