Photo provided: Perham firefighters put out a brake fire on a school bus Monday morning. The approximately 35 children on board when the fire began were not injured.

Perham bus catches fire

Published 11:02am Tuesday, February 7, 2012
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No one was injured Monday morning when the brakes of a Perham school bus caught on fire on State Highway 78, near the road’s overpass of U.S. Highway 10.

Firefighters responded to the scene around 8:15 a.m. According to the fire department, the bus driver had smelled smoke as he was transporting approximately 35 kids to school. He pulled over and got the kids off the bus before radioing to another bus to come get the children.

“About 10 minutes later, the kids were back on another bus,” said Perham Fire Chief Mark Schmidt.

It appears that the grease buildup in the bus’ rear brake drums ignited. A city police officer was nearby and used a fire extinguisher to temporarily hold back the flames until firefighters arrived and made quick work of the fire.

The bus did not appear to be severely damaged, Schmidt reported.

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