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reprint or license thisSCHOOL BUS SAFETY
31 of 45 bus maintenance shops find cable problems
Monthly checks set for fire hazards
By DEVON MARROW
dmarrow@thestate.com
Two-thirds of the state’s school bus maintenance shops report having repaired battery cable defects similar to those that caused two bus fires in recent months.
Thirty-one of the 45 bus shops in South Carolina found loose or worn battery cables or missing clasps on Type D buses, according to inspection reports from the state Department of Education.
About half of the state’s public school students ride school buses. In Richland, Lexington and Kershaw counties, there are 267 Type D buses operating.
Don Tudor, transportation director at the state Department of Education, didn’t know how many of the 2,100 rear-engine buses — which make up about one-third of the state’s nearly 5,600 buses — were repaired.
But at the request of The State and other media outlets, Tudor said Tuesday he’ll find out how many buses had to be fixed. He gave no timetable for when that information would be available.
Last month, the state ordered emergency inspections of the Type D buses after a Richland 2 school bus carrying 36 people, mostly elementary students, caught fire near Bookman Road Elementary School.
That fire was the second in four months involving a Type D bus, following a bus fire in Berkeley County.
Last week, a third bus caught fire in Anderson County. Tudor said Tuesday the Anderson fire is still under investigation.
No one has been injured as a result of the fires.
Tudor said Tuesday inspections for the battery cable defect will be a permanent part of the monthly inspections the state conducts on all school buses.
“We’re continuing to look at this,” Tudor said. “This will be an ongoing inspection — forever.”
The Berkeley and Richland 2 bus fires started when a faulty battery cable clasp gave way. The cable fell against the power steering line and rubbed a hole in it. The fluid — an oil-like substance — sprayed onto the engine and started the fire.
The Type D buses are about 11 years old.
Tudor said older buses require more regular and preventive maintenance because they wear out over time.
“Like we find with lots of older buses, it’s not when one thing goes wrong, but when two or three things go wrong (major malfunctions can occur),” he said.
Investigators are still searching for what ignited the Anderson 1 fire. The bus’s power steering fluid also fueled that blaze.
Thomas Built Engines, which manufactured the buses, will send technicians in coming weeks to help in the investigation, Tudor said.
The Type D buses were part of a $104 million purchase in 1995 to replace buses that had been on the road since 1977.
They differ from traditional buses in what they have rear engines and no front hoods — so drivers can more clearly see when a student walks in front of the vehicle.
On June 20, state Superintendent Inez Tenenbaum signed an order to buy 630 new buses for the aging fleet.
The purchase, made with roughly $36 million the Legislature appropriated, is the largest since the 1995 purchase.
More than 100 of the new buses are the rear-engine model, but Tudor said they’ll be designed differently.
Reach Marrow at (803) 771-8485.
