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School bus fire said to be human-caused |
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Thursday, 24 January 2008 |
 A surplus bus belonging to the Big Pine Unified School District is fully engulfed with flames early Tuesday morning. A Cal Fire arson investigator has determined the fire was human-caused, and was smoldering for quite some time before erupting into a full-blown blaze. Photo by Angie Calloway/Big Pine Volunteer Fire Department photographer By Darcy Ellis
Editor 1-24-2008
A $500 reward has been offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for burning down a local school bus earlier this week.
Inyo County Sheriff Bill Lutze offered the reward Wednesday following a state arson investigator’s determination that the early-morning fire was human-caused.
It is still unknown at this time whether the fire was set intentionally or by accident.
The blaze, which completely destroyed a decommissioned bus being stored at Big Pine School by the school district, broke out about 2:15 a.m. Tuesday. According to Sheriff’s Investigator Paul Bedell, while the investigator with Cal Fire was unable to find a natural cause for the fire, he also did not find any evidence of the use of accelerant, such as gasoline, to ignite the vehicle.
“We can’t say if it was deliberate or not,” Bedell said, “but it was definitely suspicious.”
There was no reason, at least mechanically, for the school bus to catch fire on its own. The bus was inoperable, having been declared surplus in June 2006 and last used by the school district in August. With 350,000 miles on it, the bus was scheduled to be towed from the school campus at some point, Bedell noted, and the school district was in the process of securing a grant to replace the 20-plus-year-old vehicle.
Authorities were first alerted to the fire about 2:15 a.m. Tuesday by a passing truck driver who saw flames in the school’s surplus storage area from U.S. 395.
Fourteen members of the Big Pine Volunteer Fire Department, along with four units, responded to find the bus fully engulfed, said BPVFD Chief John Marzano.The school bus was a total loss, he said.
The value of the school bus is undetermined, though Bedell said it was still insured.
The only other loss as a result of the blaze was some surplus property that suffered heat damage in a metal shipping storage container located three feet from the bus (some plastic desks were melted).
Other than that, given the intensity of the fire, the school district was fortunate the blaze didn’t leave more damage or devastation in its wake.
“The bus wasn’t in service,” Bedell noted, “and it was far enough away from the main structure of the school that the school wasn’t threatened.”
Also on the positive side, the BPVFD came away from the scene after about two-and-a-half hours of extinguishing the blaze and tending to mop-up duties with no injuries to firefighters.
Because sheriff’s personnel were suspicious of the fire, a Cal Fire arson investigator from San Bernardino was called in to look into the incident. By the end of the day Tuesday, he determined that the blaze was caused by human activity and that the fire had been smoldering for quite some time before erupting into full-blown flames, Bedell said.
According to Bedell, this leads investigators to not discount the possibility that someone, perhaps a transient seeking refuge from the cold, or teens looking for a place to party, entered the bus and somehow started a fire.
Anyone with information about Tuesday’s school bus fire is asked to call Investigator Bedell or Sergeant Jeff Hollowell at the Bishop Substation at (760) 873-7887.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 08 March 2008 )
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