from w The number of accidental fires lately is appalling. Three in one area of Fiji - near Sigatoka. The first fire/accident on a bus was horrific. Now another bus on fire and another fire in a school dormitory. Certainly the motto of BE PREPARED is relevant. Cause and effect - driver lack of skills perhaps, old buses not checked out properly. No safety measures such as a second door, large windows, a fire extinguisher. School buildings also need to have emergency measures and fire extinguishers. Those girls at Nadroga Navosa High School were sent home to get more clothes and bedding! The students from Cuvu College had to jump out of windows of a burning bus. Not good enough!
From Fiji Times today:
Buses must have fire extinguishers
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Update: 11:16AM Bus companies are urged to ensure that fire extinguishers are installed in buses and drivers are trained on how to use them. The recommendation comes after more than 70 students of Cuvu College travelling towards Sigatoka Town yesterday escaped a bus fire after noticing smoke coming from the engine of the Maharaj Transport Limited bus at about 3.45pm.
Students escaped serious injuries by jumping out of the windows as the bus was engulfed in smoke and flames.
National Fire Authority's chief fire officer Mark Reid said buses should hold extinguishers and drivers should be trained to use it in times of need.
This is the second serious bus fire within two weeks and could have a similar tragic outcome as the fatal bus fire two weeks ago, he said.
This is another example of a bus and driver unprepared to deal with a fire emergency.
While the majority of the students escaped injuries, a handful of students have been treated at Sigatoka Hospital for minor injuries.
oops Wendy can you delete that first comment? i filled in the address field wrong...
ReplyDeleteit says...
I quite agree Wen, we bought smoke alarms for our house over with us, and our car also has a fire extinguisher- these buses are scary. Alice and her school mates all try to catch the local ones without windows...
from w
ReplyDeleteNow the Bus people are blaming the road humps and potholes: By: FBCL
The Fiji Bus Operators Association says poor road conditions are partly to be blamed for buses catching fire.
Association president Pyara Singh was commenting on another bus that turned ablaze in Sigatoka yesterday.
More than 50 students in the bus escaped unhurt. Singh says roads need to be fixed if such incidents and more deaths are to be avoided.
"Sometimes since the pot holes or the road humps, the engine mounting breaks and the engine directly lends to the chassis and there is an electrical shooting from the starter to the engine, may be one of the cause 0f the fire-the road humps are not up to the standards that should be done as some are very high and there are sometimes pot holes behind beside the road humps and all these pot holes are damaging buses-when the bus hit a pot hole or a road hump engine mounting breaks and the engine certainly lights on the chassis and electrical sparks do come out of these starter motto and the alternator motto.”