Four of my town's school buses buses caught fire last night and they don't understand why
4 of our 6 electric buses caught fire last night and they haven't identified a cause. Thankfully no one was injured, but school was canceled today and tomorrow. Update: [Local news outlets](https://www.mynbc5.com/article/electric-school-bus-fire-williston/70721193) are now reporting that a mechanical failure in one of the buses caused the fire.
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191 Comments
Um.. my guess is arson.
Four electric buses, same night, same lot, no cause identified. Either someone really hated mondays or the investigation is going to be very short
Arson wouldn't do that, he's a very good boy
Iran probably hit them with a Tomahawk.
Nah bro it’s one of the many b2s they shot down and captured
more Ai targeting in Operation: Epic Fury
 Some kid after getting extra homework
There she is...
Holy cow!! Were there any cameras near by??
There are outdoor cameras, but you'd think they would have said something if someone was caught starting a fire.
Arson
if not, everyone is driving their kids to school. no way you let them on those buses.
https://preview.redd.it/8gnoibcnhnog1.jpeg?width=304&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c5f24ac234f8ccc930b54b1aa06fe60e673c4d2f
Just found the arsonist
That's called arson.
Don't put this on me. That's not our son, that's your son when he's misbehaving.
If this is the story I saw this morning, those are electric busses. I believe there was a recall due to fire hazards.
Maybe, but they’re all parked together so could also be an accident or anything that caused one fire and it spread bus to bus. If it were 4 separate fires then yes, definitely arson.
So 4 buses stops school for 2 days. Noted
Well, that’s over 66% of the total buses, so I can why they can’t compensate for such a loss immediately.
Williston?
Yes :/
Was it exam time?
Ummm, I know why... somebody did that shit!
must be one of those iranian sleeper cells i hear so much about.
As a former mischievous child, I would guess this was kids
Fire? It was probably fire
They want that insurance money lol
Hmmmm 🤨 suspicious
Probably kids set it on fire
The tires didn't even catch fire, only the top half--the bottom where the batteries are located is untouched. This was arson.
Someone knows why
Damage starts in the front and goes toward the rear. Battery's look undamaged and the hood still has paint on it. Looks like arson to me
Same thing happened to the elementary school in my neighborhood a decade ago. We think it's because the district bought their own buses and stopped using a company to rent them and someone didn't like that. They were literally brand new.
Republican attacks on education are getting out of hand
I don’t think people understand how much energy is stored in the massive batteries on these. If the batteries caught fire there wouldn’t be much of anything left of these with how hot it would burn and how long it would burn. Also, the batteries are below and there doesn’t app...
If an electric bus were to light on fire it would generally be caused by a malfunction in the charging system. My guess would be one caught fire and caused the other to ignite, or arson. As far as putting out the fires goes, lithium-iron-phosphate batteries are used in school ...
Lighting is a possibility
Are those EV busses?
Yes, all four were EV buses. And the charging stations were damaged as well. They’re saying about 2 million in damages.
When I was in elementary school someone snuck into the bus garage and popped the tires on our school bus. Can’t remember if we got the whole day off or if it was just a half day
Defective batteries
Four school buses caught fire last night all by their own selves. Four. Same time. It’s a mystery, that. Uh-huh. Arson. We call that arson.
Mork calling arson, come in arson.
“Some men just want to burn down busses for fun” - Alfred probably
Spontaneous comBUStion
If iv leaned anything from Reddit, four kids must have simultaneously left their crystal balls behind on each bus. Rookie mistake.
https://preview.redd.it/7mko26jgnuog1.jpeg?width=1320&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3d9288b8681b78f1f1b1f24914ceadb96f4cfe33
I think the word you’re looking for is ARSON.
Hey fellow VTer! Also my guess here is someone wanted to start the fire and make people think it was caused by the buses being EVs, but the fire was noticed and put out too quickly. Or some kid didn’t want to take a test, my hometown in ME had tires slashed on most of the buse...
I’m not an expert but I’m guessing arson
someone didnt study for a test today....
Well that's one way to get out of taking a test.
Back in middle school someone slashed all the school bus tires over night. This was years before covid. So school was canceled
If that is anything but arson I’d go buy a kettle and eat it
They canceled school for an entire district because 4 busses are out of commission?
because 66% of the busses are out of commission
Yup. They took the other 2 electric buses out of service until they can determine the cause. 6 buses out for a Vermont town is pretty disruptive.
arson or a left behind electric battery fire (cheap vape or something)
The batteries very clearly didn't burn, just the passenger compartments.
Kids with lighters
Kids being mean or kids getting high at night. Both situations could lead to a school bus burning.
Me and Dre stood next to a burnt-down school bus. With a can full of gas and a hand full of matches. And still weren't found out (Right here)
First thought is arson. But now I'm wondering if one could have caught on fire due to an electrical issue, and spread to the others?
Lyon electric buses have blue bumpers like that. They are known to burn.
That's weird one of the buses around here just burned up in the same way
That's pretty suspicious that the first one in that picture is burnt from seemingly the top. It likely wasn't anything related to the batteries or charging system since those are down between the chassis rails.
Find out what class was set to have a test today. That will narrow your suspect pool.
this would’ve terrified me as a kid because my brain immediately would’ve gone to “okay the buses are alive now and they’re angry” 😭 i already had an overactive imagination, so something like this happening at my school would’ve had me making up the wildest theories
Four of my town’s school buses buses. Caught fire last night night. And they don’t know why why. 
It doesn't even matter how hard you try Keep that in mind, I designed this rhyme to explain in due time
Caught fire? Is that what they're calling arson these days?
Kinda weird that it's only burnt halfway up and not really any signs of burning from the engine itself. There's not much in this area that could get crazy, especially 4x. Almost like the fuel was poured down an aisle.
Def not the traction batteries... it's all top end. By the looks it started up front and burned back across the seats, probably jumping bus to bus.
Adding to the arson comments, here in Switzerland we also had a case two days ago where a bus randomly burst into flames... because of arson, so yeah...
"4 of our 6 **electric buses** caught fire last night" There is your answer. Someone does not like electric vehicles and wanted to make an example out of these busses.
Hey a fellow Vermonter
Well according to WCAX news, a mechanical failure that wasn't battery related, caused the fire, though it's still under investigation. My guess is one caught fire from a short in a non battery related electrical system, possibly a heater, and it spread. Here is a link to the a...
That makes me feel a little better that it wasn't arson, but it also sucks because the school district will likely not operate the two remaining electric buses until the root cause is addressed.
My bad…
https://i.redd.it/l21sa7lgqpog1.gif
What did Ms frizzle do
Someone doesn’t want to go to school.
Vandals
it's usually arson
Teenagers.
I'll tell you who, it's that damn sasquatch
Someone dropped their vape /s
All of the people saying it’s arson… electric vehicles are still a new technology. I don’t assume arson at all. I mostly just assume those vehicles should’ve been parked farther away from each other.
Typical. You wait all day for a bus fire, then along come four, all together.
https://preview.redd.it/37cq2pv7zuog1.jpeg?width=736&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fd3b99180d86ee5fa990913a7c88cbc015901690
From the wcax.com news article: “Gary texted me last night and was like, ‘Hey, hate to tell you this... some of our school buses are on fire.’ And I was like, What?!” said Champlain Valley School District Superintendent Adam Bunting." Gary has got to be the most laid-back du...
*busses busses 🚍
Let me guess, insurance
What was the cause of the fire? Heat, fuel, and an oxidizer.
Global warming
Hello fellow Vermonter! I just saw an article about this on Reddit this morning. Hope they figure out the cause. If it was malicious then thats horrible, but if it was just a tech issue then thats not very good either.
Hey! Either way it sucks. I got a text while I was checking them out that said school is canceled again tomorrow. Thankfully we haven't had many snow days this winter!
Left 'em parked in an oxygen rich environment. Bloody idiots.
Electric buses? Yeah that happens sometime. It's some flavor of electrical. Surge in the charging station, maybe? One bus and I would have said the battery. 4 in a row, I am going to put my money on failed charging station or power spike from the main line. If you had hi...
They just do that sometimes dw
EV owners need to design charging spots so they can burn without catching other vehicles on fire.
They are lion electric school bus. They had battery problem in the past. Is it arson or a battery problem?
One caught fire and spread to the others.
Big test today
Someone had an exam they didnt study for
Iran
Electric school buses seem to have a higher percentage of catching on fire vs. other EVs, for some reason. If I e went up, it probably wouldn't take long for it to spread to the others
EV buses?
Global warming is a son of a bitch
Somebody didn't study
Bet the kids are stoked though
I'm sure the fire department will figure out if it was arson or just an electrical event that caused all 4 to burn. Either way, it's sad to lose that many buses.
Be they took the vaccine.
Could be thermal runaway. One bus's lithium batteries catch fire (it happens). The heat of the fire causes the battery in the next bus over to catch fire. Once thermal runaway starts in an EV, it's going to burn.
Any big games coming up soon?
Four of the houses on our street caught eggs all over them and we don’t know why. It’s a mystery. 🤷🏻
arson? did it rain last night/left charging? they will probably figure it out though with those fire investigators
Hello neighbor! I'm just glad nobody was hurt!
Idk how these ones are built, but I’d assume the batteries are low down, and the relatively intact body shells would indicate that the lithium batteries weren’t involved
Are you due for a regimen change?
Probs Jodio Joestar since he has a ... history with that https://preview.redd.it/29og1lfqznog1.jpeg?width=825&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=50158ae65d250d102b3af057f8eaa99fd7cff2cc
Mmm, arson
When I was in high school two girls really didn’t want to go to school (neither rode a bus) and they decided to break into all of the buses and just started indiscriminately cutting wires under the dash. no rhyme or reason, just hack-n-slash.
Anti-education propaganda prolly hasn't helped. Fire-bugs are sick.
https://preview.redd.it/nhw3yskj4oog1.jpeg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=989623d4f163eefb95a51f6e5cf2847dd1abf124
Yeah they do.
This is super suspect... one of our districts got electric buses a little over a year ago and they had a fence installed around the lot because there was and is a lot of dissent amongst the community about it.
Someone really didn’t want to take that exam
Look like EV bus (battery non-gas) might overheat charger end up fire.
The cabin is burnt, the base where presumably the batteries are looks fine.
Someone low on money?
If they are Internationals with the Maxxforce7 powerplant then good riddance.
Ha "Towforce"
Do you have the brand in Front ? The one from Lion electrique are sort of a scam.
I'm not 100% sure. The only pictures I can find are from after the fire and the front is totally charred.
These are thomas busses. Freightliner family.
Electric buses?
That umm.. must be the fire
Everyone is saying arson but it’s not the first time electric buses have caught fire while charging, usually it’s just one bus failing and it spreads to the others. Generally a charging fault caused by moisture ingress.
"murica
Ah oh, blue bumpers. Are those Lion buses?
Do they not have cameras?
But you do?
Geography test the next day
i'm willing to bet it is someone names Orson.
Was it the seat belts?
Tyler did it.
I see Charging cables and a charging station. I bet one went up and caught the rest on fire, they should be parked further away from each other and you are never supposed to charge unattended.
DID ELON DO THIS!?
Arson or probably caught fire from whatever Chinese factory they were made in. EV’s seem to have a habit of catching fire, a people still buy them…
Terrorism, homegrown
So one caught fire and the other just burned because of it....
hit by lightning? looks like it started from the top. it doesn't have to be storming for lightning or ball lightning to happen, sometiemes cold + dry can cause it
Could be the lithium-ion batteries. I saw a video of a line of buses like this where the first bus battery exploded, the bus caught fire, and each bus down the line caught fire.
Thermal runaway in lithium ion batteries can do this
Even if the batteries ran away it should have melted something, like the wheel ends and tires. This looks like a fire inside the passenger cabin. Which can happen. But I'm doubting electric vehicle batteries. They're more...violent. And they're all burned in similar ways....
Thank god no kids were on them
Sometimes trucks just catch fire. Maybe, maybe not, but it is a fact of life if you own trucks. Always keep them battery switches off when you're not using it.
Oh THATS where my new album airdropped…
Caught fire isn’t the same as set fire lol
It's very weird that redditors immediately jump to arson. Electrical fires can start in all sorts of ways, it doesn't need to be the battery pack failing necessarily. It is interesting that they call it a "mechanical" failure now. If they were parked I'm having difficulty thin...
we had electric busses in our district and 2 of them caught fire.. they took the whole fleet off the road.
boss: https://preview.redd.it/wbg61pf54qog1.jpeg?width=600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bd9a1fcaba76d154584e30a6743676726e054e5d
Be glad you live at a place where schools are not bombed by democracies and this is the worst that can happen.
Maybe it was a mishap in the laundry room of the bus. Seems to be the common excuse this week.
Ehh, could be runaways. Better for them to cascade in a parking lot at night than during the day with kids on them.
How can mechanical failure do this if the buses weren’t being used at the time? An would be most likely to be arson that did this
Math test that day…..
probably someone doesnt want to go to school
6 of our towns school busses, the catalytic converters disappeared 3 months ago and they dont know why. True story
4 of them at the same time? That's 1000 percent arson
https://preview.redd.it/b6ja8tdokrog1.jpeg?width=350&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=25552fe7e0f8fab208aadfad47a0fd1f2ede2633
oh no..
I was first gonna say arson then saw they were electric. You answered your own question why they caught fire OP.
If this is Williston VT, the synchronicity of these buses burning and the first real ICE vs citizens clash we’ve had in the area bears scrutiny. ICE was Wednesday afternoon, bus fires Wednesday night.
Save some tinfoil for the rest of us. The state police already stated that it was a mechanical failure.
Electric explains it