My bus caught on fire this morning
 

We were on the way to school this morning when we heard a load bang coming from the engine bay (I was sitting in the back of the bus, but the engine is in the back for some reason). The bus starts to slow down a little bit and the sound of the engine is noticably differant. The bus driver just keeps driving while me and the Asian kid in the seat next to mine wonder what caused the bang.

A few seconds later the kid in the seat next to me says "Whoa! Dude, there's smoke coming out right next to you!". I turn and see a large cloud of white smoke coming out from right underneath my seat, and in a panic I grab my backpack and jump across the bus into the Asian kid's seat, holding my backpack up like a sheild. The bus starts filling with smoke and we all open the windows to get the smoke out, but that only causes it to come in further up (But at least it is less thick in the front).

Our bus starts slowing down and pulling over to the side of the road, with smoke coming out heavily from the back. Our bus comes to a stop and it is then we realise the smoke has changed to black and flames shooting out the back. I start flipping out (The engine is behind me, and black smoke means we are burning either diesil fuel or oil) and screaming the bus is going to explode. Everyone panics and we start evacuating the bus, and we notice huge flames shooting out the back. A bunch of passing motorists stop and come to help us, and the fire is getting worse and their is a real danger of explosion. Someone grabs a fire extingisher and sprays it into the back of the bus, at the flames pouring out from the exhaust and engine area. It is then we realize we just blocked a major road into DC, causing a traffic jam of several miles.

FInally they put the fire out and half the bus gets to leave by hitching a ride. The rest of us are forced to wait on the side of the road in the horrible wind and cold, being too scared to go back into the ruined bus. Eventually the fire department and ambulences arrive, and then they start checking us out for injuries. The good thing is that no one is harmed, although we are all pretty shaken by our near death experience. About 20 minutes after the fire started we are taken to school on another bus which was convenitly running late.

I'm pretty scared because I could have died. Anyone else had anything this scary every happen to them?

Re: My bus caught on fire this morning
 

Your bus driver was a dumbass. Smoke iscoming out the back and he is just driving along. Do me a favor and punch him in the face the next time you see him. My god if you're to stupid to not stop a vehicle you're driving when a loud bang comes from knowehere while the engine starts to sound different then you should be functioning as a speed bumb on the road.

The worst thing that has happen to me (bus related) was when I was about 11 years old. My crapy bus's brakes basically stopped working in the middle of a highway! We went through a red like at a 4 way intersection! Fortuneatly my bus driver was smart enough to shift into low gear then drive on the side of the road then turn the engine off. The whole experiance lasted about 2 minutes; I think, maybe less. Just dont get frantic everytime you enter a bus. Remember that it doesnt happen to often, and if it happens again, then God probably hates you! But since you survived, concider him a friend!

One time when i actually almost died was years ago... I was driving my ATV and like a jackass I tried to do a jump. Although I have done them before, I decided to go a bit faster and hit the hill at a different angle. I was pissed at my mom about something so my mind was preoccupied. Anyway, I went off the jump and the quad kinda turned sideways in the air. It went one way, I went another. hahaha. Well I ended up hitting the ground on my chest and sliding about 5 feet into a buried rock (about 1 inch of its top was sticking up). So I blacked out for a few moments and I see my dad running with all his fatness as if a chocolate cake was by my side. For some reason I started screaming, I couldnt see, my chest hurt badly, and I was having breathing problems. I didnt realize it at the time but I had alot of dust in my eyes and I was having a panic attack. Fortunatly all I did was bruise my sternum, just above my solar plexus.

Re: My bus caught on fire this morning
 

Read again, he said the driver kept on driving after the "bang". Obviously when the smoke was visible he slowed down and stopped.

He should have stopped after the bang... but

Re: My bus caught on fire this morning
 

read again einstein thats what i said...

Re: My bus caught on fire this morning
 

Your first sentence is in conflict with your other one:
To be honest, I only read your first sentence. You don't just say one thing and then another thing that is different from your first sentence.

And its a school bus. There are big bangs all the damn time. The suspension on most busses are crap. You hit a pothole and the whole damn thing trembles like its going to fall apart.

For a bug driver, big bangs shouldnt be too uncommon.

Re: My bus caught on fire this morning
 

Lolz, well nothing too scary happened to me on the bus. (you are talking about public transportation buses right? The engine for those are usually in the back)

My bus driver was just a plain idiot, it wasn't a scary experience though. I think I was 12, and me and my little brother were on the CTA going close to school. SO I pull the wire and walk up to the front. Then the driver passes our stop, when I realize he was talking about a girl in a bathtub. I started cursing at him! Whats and old bus driver doing talking about porn while passing my stop?

So I cursed him out, and still had to walk the extra block for the stop he passed.

Re: My bus caught on fire this morning
 

Good thing that that pervert isn't a school bus driver.

Re: My bus caught on fire this morning
 

No he said he was on a school bus although I have never seen a school bus with the engine in the back.:uhm:

Re: My bus caught on fire this morning
 

well a near death Motorvehicle incident i had was, we we're drivin along to go campin in a really old crappy motorhome, and The seatbelt was just some piece of crap attached to a board UNDER the vehicle,turns out that board fell off and the seatbelt got caught in the tire, ripped the whole seatbelt out the vehicle, if i was wearin my seat belt (which thankfully i wasnt) the seatbelt would have ripped right through me as it got yanked out the vehicle.

Re: My bus caught on fire this morning
 

That bus driver must have had pretty slow reactions, the last time I remember reading about a bus catching on fire was a few years ago, but then the bus driver had stopped, let out the passengers and used the fire extinguisher (mandatory equipment in buses) to extinguish the fire.


Fortunately I can't remember anything that scary happening to me, I suppose driving off a main road at high speed last year, ending up stopped by a stone and a tree slightly avoiding getting the other two wheels into the deep ditch and the concrete drum in it on the way to the stop could have been considered scary, but it happened so fast I barely had time to hit the brakes and try to steer the tiny car I was driving a little.