Clean Air Bus Spews Black Smoke
Passengers, Firefighters Unhurt in Brief Blaze on 101
It took about fifteen minutes for fire crews to douse a flaming Clean Air Express Bus in Santa Maria at about 6:35 this morning. Though a statement from the County Fire Department did not say what caused the vehicle blaze, it did note that the driver and all 28 passengers had safely evacuated by the time firefighters arrived. The Santa Barbara-bound bus, which was stopped along the southbound 101 between Palmer Road and the Solomon Grade, near Los Alamos, halted all traffic coming from the north until the fire was contained. County Fire spokesman Capt. Eli Iskow noted that the Clean Air Express buses are powered by compressed natural gas and “pose only a small explosion hazard if the fuel cylinders are exposed to the heat of uncontrolled fire due to their built in safety features.”
Iskow also concluded his statement with the following safety fact: “650 million people ride buses annually, and the industry’s safety record of 0.02 fatalities per 100 million passenger miles traveled makes bus travel much safer than car travel. “
