Fire on Downtown Disney Bus on 3/5/06...

[nannon16]

I was at WDW this weekend (Sunday 3/5) and left MGM around 3ish to go to Downtown Disney. As we pulled out of MGM, we noticed a lot of smoke but couldn't figure out where it was coming from. As we got closer, we realized we were headed in the direction it was coming from. We pulled into the lot for the Downtown Disney Marketplace and just uphead there were police cars and fire trucks, but we couldn't see what happened yet. We got out of the car and went down to the end of the lot where a bunch of people were standing and after going through the bushes onto the grass, we saw a Downtown Disney bus in the street with the back half completely burned (all it was was a skeleton, but the front of the bus was perfectly fine). Just then Disney security made everyone leave so we went over to a sidewalk. We started asking anyone if they knew what happened, but everyone said they got there just as the fire was put out. One person said they heard no one was on the bus and no one was hurt, which was good to hear! Of course if you asked anyone who worked there what happened they said they didn't know. Later that night when we got back to the hotel we couldn't find anything on the news....was anyone else there that knows what happened? Someone said they thought maybe there was an accident and another car hit the bus near the fuel tank, but we didn't see any other cars around, unless any other cars had already been towed away by the time we got there??

 

[SoonerKate]

I was wondering what had happened, too. I was leaving work, turned on to Buena Vista Dr., and was immediately directed to turn around at the next light (near SunTrust, one light before Hotel Plaza Blvd.).

 

[cruisedad]

I was at Downtown Disney and all we heard from a CM was that there was a bus fire, nobody hurt and cleaned up with pixie dust like only Disney could.

 

[Squirlz]

The rear is where the engine is, so that makes sense. Probably just a malfunction leading to a fire. Not terribly uncommon and with no injuries certainly not newsworthy.

 

[seashoreCM]

>>> not terribly uncommon

In the past several months at least three fires involving the rear end of buses made the Boston news. One was an inter-city bus from Boston to New York that caught fire in Connecticut. All the passengers got out safely but were stranded by the side of the freeway. The second was a transit bus that caught fire on the Mass. Turnpike resulting in a close-down of a busy section of that road for a few hours. No injuries reported. Only a skeleton of the entire bus remained. The third fire occurred in a bus parking lot of the same agency that owned the second bus and another nearby bus was damaged as well. Fuel line leaks were blamed for all of the fires. All three of the buses in question had undergone major repairs in the engine compartment just prior to the fires.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[jw2736]

Several months ago, a Disney Cruise Lne bus caught fire in the engine area while enroute to Port Canaveral. The bus was a total loss. I cant remember if it was loaded with people or not.

 

[Beth]

Thanks for the post. We were there, too - and had no idea what was going on. What a mess with diverting all that traffic through parking lots...