School bus garage fire cancels school for a day, cause investigated

By Rosemary K. Otzman
Independent Editor
On Thursday, Nov. 13, students in the Van Buren Public Schools got an unexpected day off after an early morning spectacular fire at the bus garage cut off driver access to the buses parked nearby.
A motion alarm went off at around 3:30 a.m., probably due to the fire, according to Belleville Fire Chief Brian Loranger, and the Belleville Police Department responded. Then police alerted the fire department and the school superintendent to the flaming building.
Belleville Fire Chief Brian Loranger said people in the area later reported that they heard explosions before they saw the fire.
Chief Loranger said that Belleville and Van Buren Township have a formal mutual aid agreement for fires in commercial structures and so Belleville and VBT were toned out at the same time. VBT arrived first with its ladder truck and an engine and set up the scene at the blaze.
Chief Loranger said they did not really use the ladder truck, but did use the engine. Sumpter Township Fire Department also assisted.
Chief Loranger said there were explosions from inside the garage and so they fought the fire from outside the building.
He said they had Davis Street “pretty well taken care of” with all the hoses in the street and so it was impossible for bus drivers to get to their buses. The fire was under control relatively quickly.
One Belleville fire fighter got sprayed in the eye and, because they didn’t know exactly what was in the spray, Huron Valley Ambulance flushed out the fire fighter’s eye and she went back to duty, Chief Loranger said.
The Van Buren Schools did have school on Friday. School Supt. Michael Van Tassel said in a memo to parents, “In the interest of the safety of our employees, whom I did not want near the area, I decided to cancel school today.”
At about 2 a.m. Friday, Belleville fire fighters were toned out again when smoke was reported at the burned-out garage. Chief Loranger said it turned out to be what they believe was steam on the roof.
The State Fire Marshal arrived at about 4 p.m. Thursday to begin his investigation and was to come back on Tuesday, Nov. 18, Chief Loranger said. The Fire Marshal will coordinate with the school district’s insurance company.
“There was a lot of loss,” Chief Loranger said, adding he pried open a tool box that had been melted shut and saw a lot of damaged tools.
“While we sustained a great deal of damage to the building and several maintenance vehicles, no buses were lost,” said Supt. Van Tassel.
“The damage is substantial, but we will move forward with continuing to provide a quality educational experience for the over 5,000 students and families we serve,” Van Tassel said.
According to reports, the district’s new dump truck, a lawn mower, and other vehicles were destroyed inside the building.
According to a report, a mechanic who did not scheduled to work that day called someone at the scene of the fire, asking him to find his tool box and open it to see if his Christmas money was still inside. The melted box was pried open and the money found intact.