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Bus sparks grassfire |
| Posted by Administrator (admin) on Jan 06 2007 at 8:17 AM |
Dates 6th Jan 2007 - Source
A BUSLOAD of scouts was lucky to escape unhurt when their bus ignited a grassfire near Elmore yesterday.
About 40 scouts from the 21st Australian Jamboree at Elmore were on route to Echuca when their bus driver took a wrong turn and tried to manoeuvre a U-turn in long grass.
The hot exhaust system is said to have sparked a 10-acre grassfire when the bus got bogged on the side of Elmore-Mitiamo Road.
A second bus was then called to collect the scouts left stranded.
Four local fire brigades attended the scene at 9.30am.
Elmore fire captain Colin Walker said the fire could easily have engulfed the bus had it not been well maintained and serviced.
"The bus could easily have gone up," he said.
"It was very lucky that the bus was in good serviced condition.
"In such dry conditions on a day of total fire ban, and with winds how they were, it could have been a lot worse."
Captain Walker said fire crews struggled to find the fire at first because they had been given the wrong location.
"He (the bus driver) thought he was on the Northern Highway going towards Echuca," he said.
Captain Walker said the incident could have been avoided if the driver had chosen safer location to turn the bus around.
"The grass was knee-high, and the ground drops away from the road," he said.
"In this dry weather, you really should look for an intersection or a driveway to turn around.
"It's just too dry for any vehicle to pull over in long dry grass."
Sergeant Richard Soltys, from Region 3 traffic task unit, confirmed no one was hurt, but said the driver was shaken up.
The bus was towed away to Melbourne about 2pm to be checked for electrical faults.
The bus in question was one of about 70 catering for the 8500 scouts at the jamboree.
The driver was unavailable for comment.