Posted on 02/12/2008 8:29:37 PM PST by BenLurkin
Clean Air bus had to be evacuated after catching fire in Santa Maria this morning. The incident happened north of Los Alamos on Highway 101 southbound at 6:45am.
The driver and all 28 passengers were out of the bus before firefighters arrived. No one was injured. The fire was knocked out in about 15 minutes. Highway 101 southbound was closed during the fire suppression and reopened to one lane after wards.
The fire apparently started in the rear section of the bus, possibly in the dual wheel compartment, Captain Eli Iskow said. The inside of the bus sustained minor damage and the underside of the bus sustained major damage. A replacement bus arrived and passengers boarded that bus to continue their journey south, Iskow said.
The Clean Air Express buses are fueled by CNG (compressed natural gas) and pose only a small explosion hazard if the fuel cylinders are exposed to the heat of uncontrolled fire due to their built in safety features, according to Santa Barbara County Fire Department.
County Fire also wants to stress that 650 million people ride buses annually, and the industry’s safety record of 0.02 fatalities per 100 million passenger miles traveled makes bus travel much safer than car travel.
thankfully no casualties, ‘cause now I can say what a hoot that pic is.
Wonder how much pollution depleted the ozone during that burn?
:-)
Very reminiscent of the global warmer “cruise” ships sinking in the waters off Antarctica.
Look out folks, the Clean Air is racing by!
If I had any GIMPing skills, I’d edit that photo and change the destination banner to ‘White House’ and bus’ name to ‘Hillary Express.’
So much for the "Clean Air Express".
Thanks for the clean air!
An amazing feat considering that the bus couldn't slow down below 55 m.p.h.
Was the engine a Capstone Micro-turbine?
In all fairness, it reads as though this fire started with a flat on the rear dual wheels causing the remaining tire to overheat and ignite; that picture is a sight though - a poster is born.
Someone is gonna have to buy a sh@tload of carbon credits!
That thing's carbon footprint is now huge.
The only photo that would be better is the city of Santa Barbara in flames behind its own "Welcome" sign.
CNG only a small fire hazard with safety features!!!!! Sure, a few spheres filled to 3,000 psi pressure of natural gas. The safety problems with CNG is precisely the reason GM bailed out on their programs.
PS - the space shuttle has safety features. Apollo 13 had safety features. Apollo 1 had safety features.
“CNG only a small fire hazard with safety features!!!!! “
CNG vehicles are popular here in Slovakia, and the best thing going. They are very clean and the fuel cost is one third that of gasoline. All of the CNG cars operate on either CNG or gasoline with the flip of a switch.
I ride in a CNG powered bus every day and have not heard of any safety problems.
One new bus did burn up last year and that entire series was recalled, but it was due to a faulty fan design, not the CNG.
They are all back in service now
What would it be in cigarettes? A couple of hundred thousand? Cartons.
What? You're talking about my home town. Seen plenty of fires in my 56 years here, and it's really nothing to joke about. You were joking, weren't you, New Mexico?
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