KANSAS CITY, Mo. — No injuries were reported Thursday afternoon aboard a school bus returning home from a field trip in Kansas City caught fire.
Around 2:30 p.m. Thursday, 30 middle school-aged students and three adults were on a USD 234 (Fort Scott, Kansas) school bus on southbound U.S. 69 Highway in Linn County when one of the tires on the bus blew out.
As the driver attempted to limp along, the blown tire started to smoke, eventually igniting the wheel well on fire, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol.
Before the fire spread to the rest of the bus, all occupants were able to safely evacuate the bus.
The school district said the bus was a total loss due to the blaze.
“We want to commend our bus driver as well as our school staff who were on the bus and helped make sure all of the kids got off safely and were taken care of,” the district said in a post on social media.
Fort Scott is about a 90-minute drive south of Kansas City.
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