BELMONT, W.Va. — Pleasants County Schools were able to open for the new school year Tuesday, a day after fire caused damage to several of the county’s buses in the early morning hours. A fire broke out at a business which sits next to the bus garage and storage yard in the Belmont community early Monday morning.
The fire damaged seven of the Pleasants County School system buses, but Eric Croasmun, Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Personnel for the county schools said it could have been a whole lot worse.
“Our bus drivers when they received the call, several jumped into their personal vehicles and came to the garage and moved the buses away from the side of the transportation department that was effected. So, minimal damage compared to what it could have been,” said Croasmun.
School was canceled Monday out of caution until all of the buses could be inspected. The inspections revealed seven had some level of damage due to the intense heat from the nearby fire, but Croasmun said most of it was cosmetic damage.
“Some of the plastic pieces like the light covers were impacted and the backs of the mirrors. The damage is much less severe than what it could have been,” he said.
Repairs were quickly underway and a lot of the damaged parts replaced. As of Tuesday there were still four buses out of service. Their routes will be run by spare buses until the repairs are complete and inspections done.
“All bus routes will run as scheduled thanks to our mechanics and the swift action of our drivers who arrived to move those buses away. All buses in use have been inspected and are safe to use. The spare buses will have magnets with the correct bus numbers and these will remain in use until inspections can take place on the remaining buses, he said.