BUS ON FIRE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23708, 15 July 1940, Page 6

BUS ON FIRE

HUSH TO ESCAPE excited passengers NO ONE SERIOUSLY HURT A laden bus belonging to the Passenger Transport Company, Limited, caught fire yesterday afternoon in the Great South Road, about 300 yds. south of Broadway, Newmarket. Anxious passengers broke windows in their liaste to escape, but, although several women were affected by oil fumes, and three men suffered cut hands when they scrambled through jagged holes in window glass, no ono was seriously injured. Two St. John ambulances took passengers to the Auckland Hospital, but the patients went home after treatment.

The bus left Otahuhu at 1.35 p.m. with a heavy load. Mr. G. A. Saussey, the driver, said that, as lie passed Erin Street, Epsom, ho suspected the engine or electrical equipment had caught fire. Ho immediately stopped the bus, detached the chemical extinguisher and lifted the engine-casing to quench the outbreak. As he did so, flames and a, cloud of dense smoke enveloped the cab, and he had just sufficient time to retrieve his takings.

Black Smoke from Engine

"I previously had told the passengers to remain seated," lie said, "but as soon as the cloud of black smoke came from the engine some of the women passengers began to scream, and there was a scramble. Everyone made a rush for the emergency exit at the back." One of the passengers, Mr. G. 11. McIndoe, aged 45, of Owens Road, Papatoetoe, who was taken to the hospital with lacerations to one hand and shock, had with him a boy, aged two years. Describing his experience, he said that when the driver pulled up he told the passengers not to get out, and bent over the engine with a fire extinguisher. Just then black smoke poured out, and in a matter of seconds the passengers were choking and coughing. Mr. Mclndoe said he got close to an open window and held the boy s face outside. Then someone came along and the child was lowered out. Soldier Opens Safety Door

"My turn came, and I went head first out," Mr. Mclndoe added. "I just lowered myself out of a broken window, and was lucky not to have hurt myself more. There was a lot of excitement for a few minutes. The bus was crowded and everybody wanted to get out at the same time. For a while no one seemed to remember the safety door until a soldier from Papakura opened it and let some of the women out." An alarm was telephoned to the central fire station,, and shortly afterward an engine from Remuera arrived. A stream of chemicals was poured on to the blazing interior of the cab, and the outbreak was quickly suppressed. The whole of the dash-board, the electrical equipment and about a third of the roof lining were damaged, but there was no apparent damage to the Diesel engine itself. Relief buses arrived to take the passengers, and the damaged vehicle was towed to the company's workshop at Otahuhu.