Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Emmet Bus Fire Put Out By Driver, Student

A potentially hazardous situation was averted Thursday, Jan. 30 by the quick actions of a school bus driver.

According to Emmet School Superintendent Dr. Gene Ross, Richard Stivers, who is also Emmet's basketball coach, was running his morning bus route around 7:20 in the DeAnn area when he noticed smoke billowing from under the hood.

Stivers stopped the bus and had the students evacuate it through the rear emergency door.

He then grabbed the fire extinguisher and put out the flames in the engine compartment. However, smoke then started coming out from under the dash board, but the extinguisher was empty.

A student ran home to get water and put the second fire out. This was done before the DeAnn Volunteer Fire Department could arrive.

The bus, a 1986 GMC, was towed back to the Emmet School. A second bus was dispatched to pick up Stivers and the students.

According to Dr. Ross, one student said they had smelled gasoline when they got on, but, he added, the fire could have been caused by an electrical problem.

"It could have been bad," Dr. Ross said. "The driver did a good job evacuating the bus and putting the fire out."