Extensive Travel Delays —

Tour Bus Destroyed By Fire On I-84; Passengers Escape Injury

By Andrew Gorosko

A tour bus that was carrying 28 passengers westward on Interstate 84 caught fire on the afternoon of Sunday, July 24, causing the driver to pull to the side of the road and evacuate the vehicle’s passengers, who then watched from a distance as firefighters extinguished the flaming wreckage.

The bus fire caused extensive travel delays on the highway, backing up traffic for miles for several hours on westbound I-84. Curious eastbound motorists slowed to watch the fire, delaying eastbound traffic.

Motorists seeking to avoid the traffic backups on the interstate entered local roads, causing congestion there.

State police had no information on the incident.

Newtown Hook & Ladder Fire Chief Ray Corbo said that the unidentified driver of the 50-seat bus operated by Gallagher’s Bus Company, Inc, of Berwick, Penn., realized that the bus had caught fire about 3:39 pm, so he pulled the bus onto the highway’s right road shoulder and had the passengers evacuate the vehicle.

“They got out of the bus pretty quick,” Chief Corbo said. Most of the passengers were middle-aged.

The burning bus stopped on westbound I-84, west of the Currituck Road overpass. In that area, the road has two westbound travel lanes and a breakdown lane on the right.

The toughest aspect of the incident was getting to the fire, Chief Corbo said, noting that when Hook & Ladder firefighters were responding to the call for help, they encountered westbound traffic that had already backed up to the Exit 10 interchange. In such cases, firefighters’ travel speed is seriously hampered, the chief said.  

One bus passenger was treated for an asthma attack at the scene; one firefighter was treated at the scene for a minor hand burn, Chief Corbo said. No one was transported to the hospital.

When Hook & Ladder firefighters arrived at the fire about eight minutes after receiving the call, approximately two-thirds of the bus was afire, he said. Flames shot about 30 feet into the air.

“It was one of the bigger vehicle fires I’ve seen in recent history,” Chief Corbo said.

Hawleyville firefighters also were called to the scene at 3:59 pm. To speed their arrival, Hawleyville firefighters drove eastward on the then-closed westbound lanes of I-84. About 20 firefighters overall responded to the blaze.

Firefighters used about 5,500 gallons of water to extinguish the burning bus, as the bus passengers watched from about 200 yards away, Chief Corbo said.

It took firefighters about ten minutes to control the blaze and about another 20 minutes to put it out, he said. The bus was destroyed in the fire.

The many synthetic substances in the bus’s interior generated heavy black smoke as they burned.

Firefighters were able to save the contents of the bus’s cargo area, which is located beneath the passenger cabin, but the cabin’s contents were destroyed by the blaze, Chief Corbo said.

The fire caused state police to close the westbound lanes of I-84 for about one hour. For the following four hours, only the left lane near the destroyed bus was open to traffic.

The accidental fire apparently started due to some equipment malfunction on the bus, Chief Corbo said. The fire originated near the left rear tires on the vehicle. There was no explosion.

During the incident, the bus leaked an estimated 100 to 150 gallons of diesel fuel, said Chief Corbo. DEP spill inspectors were summoned to check for environmental damage. Most of the spilled fuel was isolated for cleanup, he said.

The stranded bus passengers were transported away from the wreckage by a local school bus.

Firefighters stayed at the scene until about 7 pm.