Greenbelt Firefighters Fight School Bus Fire on BW Parkway

At 10:40 a.m. Thursday, the Greenbelt Volunteer Fire Department and Rescue Squad responded to a report of a school bus fire on the northbound Baltimore Washington Parkway, between the NASA and Powder Mill Road exits, Deputy Chief Christopher J. Ransom said.

Ransom was given BW Parkway command of the bus fire. Fire chiefs don’t normally respond to vehicle fires, he said, but when he heard that a school bus with children was involved, “I added myself to it.”

He was concerned about children being on the parkway with its 55-mph speeds, Ransom said, adding that three-quarters of the bus was on fire when he arrived.

Two children were transported to Laurel Regional Hospital in ambulances sent by Berwyn Heights and Branchville, Ransom said, because they had slightly elevated carbon monoxide levels. They looked okay to him, but he said these precautionary measures were taken because they were kids.

Thirty-one students were on the bus, according to the Prince George’s Fire/EMS Department. Ransom said when he arrived, they were standing about 1,000 feet away from the burning bus. Greenbelt and Beltsville fire engines extinguished the flames, and the U.S. Park Police secured the parkway, cutting off traffic, according to Ransom.

Ransom said he thought all the children were fine, and he recalled them being eager to get on their way. Fire/EMS reported that eighth-grade students from a Northwest D.C. academy school were on board for a field trip. 

The students from the fire-damaged bus were eventually picked up by a third bus, as theirs was burned, Ransom said.