DART Bus Gets Hotter Than Rangers

The other day, I wrote a post about being momentarily inconvenienced during a DART train ride. My commute had nothing on that of the people who were riding this bus. Want an explanation? The official Dallas Fire-Rescue press release is after the jump:

At 11:10 a.m., Dallas Fire-Rescue (DFR) responded to a 911 call for a bus on fire near the intersection of Main Street and South Houston Street in Downtown Dallas.

As first responding crews were approaching, they said the fire looked a lot bigger than it actually was as they could see the smoke column from Griffin Street. They arrived at Main Street, near the old Downtown Dallas courthouse, to a Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) bus with fire coming from its rear. Most of the fire appeared to be on the outside of the bus, but it also sustained a lot of interior smoke damage. However, firefighters were able to deploy their attack lines and quickly extinguish the fire before it caused more significant damage.

There were a total of 17 people on board the bus, none of which suffered any significant injury. The cause of the fire will be investigated by DART officials. Apparently the fire originated somewhere in the rear of the bus. The bus driver stated that one of the occupants began screaming that there was a fire in the rear. At which time the driver pulled the bus over, immediately shut off the engine and instructed everyone to calmly exit the bus – as he also helped a rider, who was blind, to safety.