ALLENTOWN, Pa. - A horrific fire in a midsize paratransit bus that killed a disabled man has the nation's bus safety community again worrying about the issue of how to deal with such episodes.
"This is a great example of the problem (and lack of a solution) with emergency evacuation of disabled passengers," said one safety consultant.
The incident that has the industry buzzing occurred in late June in east Allentown when an engine-compartment fire in a Goshen cutaway bus operated by a paratransit service quickly spread to the passenger cabin.
Several passers-by helped pull two elderly women out of the burning bus, but were unable to save a man in a wheelchair who died in the inferno.
The bus was owned by LANTA, the public transit system serving Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton, Pa. The service was operated by the Valley Association for Specialized Transportation (VAST) and Easton Coach of Easton, Pa., which also provided the drivers and handled the daily and routine maintenance on the vehicles.
Steven Hummel, executive director of VAST, said the agency's buses have preventive maintenance inspections every 5,000 miles or two months. He said VAST drivers undergo safety training because they deal mainly with disabled and elderly riders. VAST makes 1,200 pickups per day in Lehigh and Northampton counties.
The driver of the bus that burned has been with the service for a year and a half and he reportedly did all he could to save the victim.
A police official said the driver pulled over after noticing smoke coming from the air conditioning vents. He discovered flames under the hood and went in search of a fire extinguisher. By the time he returned, police said, the bus was engulfed by fire.
Said one witness: "It looked like the engine caught fire. In a matter of minutes the entire bus was in flames." The cutaway was built on a Ford E450 chassis and had a diesel engine.
One of the problems in dealing with the incident apparently was the failure of the wheelchair lift to function after the fire started. Two bystanders were able to lift one of the women passengers off the extended wheelchair lift ramp while she was still in her chair.
The man who was killed died while sitting in his wheelchair on the extended ramp that could not be lowered. "It was just awful," one witness was quoted as saying.
Heat detectors and fire suppression systems have long been considered - and sometimes employed - to deal with such incidents. However, one state transit official said the effectiveness of fire suppression systems depends on where the sensors are relative to the fire and what temperature thresholds are used.
A long-time coach industry source said it may once again be time to reconsider suppression and detector technology, and whether it should be mandatory on all ADA accessible vehicles.
The debate is likely to continue.