Bus taking B.C. kids on field trip bursts into flames
No one was harmed when a bus transporting elementary school children to a field trip in B.C. caught fire Thursday, with the flames fully engulfing the coach, spreading to an outbuilding and prompting wildfire concerns.
First responders in Chilliwack were called to the scene around 9:30 a.m. for reports of a vehicle fire on Vedder Mountain Road, according to RCMP spokesperson Sgt. Krista Vrolyk, who adds the bus was carrying a class full of children from West Vancouver to a nearby waterpark.
"Fortunately, before the flames started, all of the occupants of the bus were able to safely exit the bus," she tells CTV News.
"Ultimately it was quick action from the teaching staff as well as the bus driver to get all of us the kids off the bus safely, and very quick action in response from the Chilliwack Fire Department."
Vrolyk says the kids were older, estimating they were in Grade 6 or 7, which made it easier to get them off the bus safely than if they were primary school aged.
The location of the blaze, at the foot of heavily-wooded Vedder Mountain, prompted crews to notify the BC Wildfire Service of the potential for a forest fire. Fortunately, Vrolyk says, the fire was knocked down before it could spread any further. The fire danger rating in the area, as in much of B.C.'s Lower Mainland, is currently extreme due to tinder-dry conditions and persistent, unseasonably high temperatures.
Photos from the scene show thick clouds of smoke billowing into the air, and flames shooting up from the bus and the structure and scorched trees on the side of the road. All that remains of the coach is a charred shell.
A bus carrying schoolchildren caught fire in Chilliwack, B.C. on June 8, 2023. (Photo submitted by Angela Bergen) A bus carrying schoolchildren caught fire in Chilliwack, B.C. on June 8, 2023. (Photo submitted by Angela Bergen)
No one was harmed when a bus transporting elementary school children to a field trip in B.C. caught fire Thursday, with the flames fully engulfing the coach, spreading to an outbuilding and prompting wildfire concerns.A bus carrying schoolchildren caught fire in Chilliwack, B.C. on June 8, 2023. (Photo submitted by Angela Bergen)
A bus carrying schoolchildren caught fire in Chilliwack, B.C. on June 8, 2023. (Photo submitted by Angela Bergen)
The fire also knocked out power for thousands of customers in the area. The schoolchildren were picked up by another bus and taken to Cultus Lake Waterpark, but when they arrived the slides were temporarily out of service. Power in the area has since been restored.
The cause of the fire has not been determined.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
"It's a bit of a complicated pattern; we've got a lot going on," said Jennifer Smith of the Meteorological Service of Canada in an interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday. "[As is] typical with weather, all of these things are related."
Boeing's financial woes continue, while families of crash victims urge U.S. to prosecute the company
Boeing said Wednesday that it lost US$355 million on falling revenue in the first quarter, another sign of the crisis gripping the aircraft manufacturer as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from a growing number of whistleblowers.
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.