Two Lynchburg city school buses were destroyed when a fire broke out at the schools’ parking lot on John Capron Road early Wednesday evening.
Buses 84 and 85 were gutted by the blaze, while 83 and 86 each sustained some heat and smoke damage, officials said.
Lynchburg Fire Battalion Chief Ed Jones said the emergency call came from the city’s dispatch center at 5:40 p.m., when an employee noticed smoke, but couldn’t tell its location.
An airplane pilot flying overhead was able to pinpoint the location, Jones said.
Firefighters were able to put out the fire within about five minutes of their arrival, he said.
Jones said the cause of the fire had not been determined Wednesday evening.
Lynchburg City Schools Superintendent Paul McKendrick said the buses were insured, but the school would still have to shell out some money to replace them. McKendrick estimated the total cost to replace a school bus was $75,000.
He said the school system would have to work quickly to get replacement buses in operation by Monday, when students return from spring break.
“We’ll have buses back in place when school starts again,” he said, adding the two smoke-damaged buses would at least need to be reconditioned before being used again. “You never want a child with asthma or respiratory issues on (those buses).”
The school system, he said, has extra buses, but there are concerns about the mileage on those vehicles.
McKendrick said in his tenure he never heard of one of the city’s buses catching fire.
The situation is made worse, he said, because of the economic conditions.
“(It) comes right at a time when nobody has money,” he said.
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