Fire crews contains blaze at school bus garage

Newton firefighters responded to a bus fire Sunday afternoon at Newton Community School District’s bus garage at 1320 First Ave. W.

According to Newton Fire Department Shift Captain Steve Ashing, crews responded to the blaze at 6 p.m. Sunday after a passerby called 911 to report smoke was coming from the area.

Ashing said the fire was contained in eight minutes with nine firefighters on-scene. The shift captain said one school bus was damaged in the fire, as fire crews were able to prevent the blaze from spreading to other buses.

According to NFD, there were no injuries reported in connection with the single-bus fire. Ashing said the bus was empty at the time of the incident.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation. Ashing could not confirm if arson is suspected in the bus fire.

Officers with Newton Police Department were also on-scene to assist in the incident. No other local emergency organizations were dispatched in connection with the blaze.

Newton Community School District Transportation Supervisor Kurt Roorda also responded to the incident.

Roorda said he’s unsure what caused the fire. Firefighters were already on the scene, and the fire was out when Roorda arrived at the bus barn. Roorda said the bus has a block heater installed, a device that warms the engine to help with cold starts, but it was not plugged in at the time of the fire.

“All I know is that I got a phone call that one of the buses was on fire and the fire department was already here when I got here,” Roorda said. “I don’t know what caused the fire, the block heater was not plugged in, it had been parked there since Friday.”

The bus, a regular route bus, was last used on Friday and Roorda said staff members reported no issues with the bus at that time. Roorda said he doesn’t know if someone intentionally set the fire — there is a fence around the bus parking lot, but there is no gate. Right now, Roorda said he’s waiting for the district’s insurance company to come out and investigate.

“All I can tell is something was on fire, all the wiring is melted off, I have no idea where the fire actually started,” Roorda said. “I’m going to wait for the insurance company to get here.”

Contact Anthony Victor Reyes at areyes@newtondailynews.com.