A school bus caught fire Wednesday morning on Milwaukee's north side, with everyone aboard escaping safely before flames took hold near one of the vehicle's rear tires. Officials received the report shortly before 7 a.m. at 109th Street and West Florist Avenue, near Lawrence J. Timmerman Airport.
Fire officials said no injuries resulted from the blaze and that no one needed to be taken to the hospital, according to WISN. Officials could not immediately confirm how many people were on board or which school district the bus served, the station reported. Officials said the fire appeared to have started on one of the bus's back tires, though the station's report did not specify a cause.
A Pattern of Bus Fires Across Milwaukee County This Fall
Wednesday's fire is the latest in a string of vehicle fires involving student and public transportation across Milwaukee County this autumn. Less than a month earlier, on September 16, a bus caught fire outside St. Matthew Parish in nearby Oak Creek, where the driver evacuated two children before the engine compartment burst into flames, according to FOX6 News Milwaukee. Oak Creek police reported no injuries from that incident.
Just a day before that Oak Creek bus fire, on September 15, a Milwaukee County Transit System paratransit van caught fire in Oak Creek after smoke poured from its dashboard vents, destroying the $70,000 vehicle along with a passenger's motorized wheelchair, FOX6 News Milwaukee also reported. The driver carried the disabled passenger to safety, and no injuries occurred in that fire either.
Wheel-Bearing Components in a Motorcoach Fire
A National Transportation Safety Board report on a 2005 motorcoach fire discusses wheel-bearing components.
A U.S. Department of Transportation Volpe Center study of motorcoach fires found engine compartments were the leading fire location, followed by wheel wells, according to BUSRide Magazine. National Fire Protection Association figures cited by the magazine put bus and school bus fires responded to by U.S. fire departments at roughly 2,210 annually, causing about 30 injuries and roughly $24 million in direct property damage each year.
Wisconsin's School Bus Inspection Criteria
Wisconsin's Trans 300 rules include safety inspection criteria for school buses. The Wisconsin State Patrol's school-bus out-of-service criteria list brakes, tires, steering and electrical wiring among the areas covered in the inspection process, according to the Wisconsin State Patrol.
Driver response has repeatedly proven critical in past Milwaukee-area incidents. In May 2023, a bus carrying 37 children caught fire near 18th Street and Highland Avenue in Milwaukee; pregnant driver Imunek Williams evacuated students, according to the Washington Post. And in February 2021, an early-morning electrical fire at a contractor bus yard in Burlington destroyed six school buses and caused more than $500,000 in damage, canceling classes across the district.
As of Wednesday, officials had not released further details on what caused the fire near 109th and Florist or confirmed the school district whose bus was involved.
