KINGDOM CITY, Mo. - A school bus in flames is a scary sight, but luckily, no one was hurt during Tuesday's fire near Kingdom City.
According to North Callaway R-1 Superintendent Bryan Thomsen, no children were aboard the district's school bus when it caught fire Tuesday morning. It was located in front of the district's bus barn off U.S. 54 at the time.
"At 6:30 this morning, our bus mechanic pulled the bus around to the shop door," Thomsen said. "He noticed flames under the dash.
"(The mechanic) got a fire extinguisher and tried to put it out, but it was too much for the fire extinguisher we had," he added. "He went inside to get another, and when he came out, the fire had spread."
Thomsen said the fire department was called, but the bus was a loss.
"It pretty much burnt the whole thing," he said.
He added while the cause of the fire is unknown, it burned very hot and appeared to have started in the engine compartment. Thomsen said the school and insurance company will investigate the cause.
To Thomsen's knowledge, the bus was not going in for maintenance and had no known issues at the time. The bus was up-to-date on inspections, as are all other buses in the district, he added.
"The state does a total inspection once a year on all school buses," Thomsen said.
Aside from the bus, the only loss is time.
"This morning, it did cause that one route to be behind schedule," he said. "It won't have an impact this (Tuesday) afternoon, however. We've got spare buses that we utilize for situations like this."
Thomsen said he is grateful the fire took place when and where it did.
"It could've been so much worse," he said.