http://www.insidehalton.com/news-story/2905276-two-city-bus-fires-lead-to-investigation/

Two city bus fires lead to investigation

Nov. 01, 2012

The City of Burlington’s acting director of transit says a second city bus fire within two weeks has prompted an inspection of both vehicles to determine a cause and if there is a connection between the two incidents.

One of the city’s 40-foot conventional buses caught fire at the rear of the vehicle, where the engine is located, just before 6 p.m. on Wednesday at the Appleby GO station. 

The driver and 10 passengers got out without injury. 

On Oct. 15, around 2:45 p.m., another 40-foot city bus caught fire in its rear engine compartment during a stop in front of the fire station at Appleby Line and Fairview Street. 

The driver and an unknown number of passengers on the bus at the time safely escaped.

The fire department estimated damage to the bus in the Oct. 15 incident at $100,000.

Mike Spicer, interim head of the city’s transit department, said he hadn’t heard a final damage estimate for the earlier bus fire and didn’t have an initial estimate for the most recent one. 

He said the bus in the Oct. 31 fire is a 2012 model supplied by Winnipeg-based New Flyer Industries. The bus in the earlier fire was a 2009 model from New Flyer. Both have Cummins engines. 

Burlington Transit has 52 conventional buses, about 45 of which are New Flyer models, said Spicer. The city also runs eight Handi-Vans, which are made by a different company. 

Spicer wouldn’t speculate as to whether there are possible safety implications for the majority of the city’s bus fleet but did say the two fires in about two weeks are disconcerting. 

“It seems a little odd that in two weeks we would have two fires,” he said. “The biggest concern is what is the cause and if they are linked in any way, and then to get it rectified.” 

Spicer said he met with transit maintenance staff Thursday morning and asked them to do a “once over” on several random buses. 

He said no city buses have been pulled from service. 

Spicer recalled one other bus fire here about two years ago but not the circumstances. 

The Post ran a photo and story in June 2008 of a Burlington Transit bus that caught fire on John Street downtown. No one was injured. 

The fire raged at the rear of the vehicle. At the time, then fire department spokesperson Ben Rotsma said the cause appeared to be a mechanical failure, but it wasn’t known whether the engine or the transmission was the source. The make and model of the bus was not mentioned.