Staff report
A group of North Rowan High School students made it to the Veterans Day parade despite a charred activity bus.
The bus was empty when it went up in flames around noon Tuesday.
North Rowan ROTC instructor Ronnie Peele picked up an activity bus at the Rowan-Salisbury School System garage on Old Concord Road Tuesday morning and headed up Interstate 85 to the East Spencer exit.
As he neared Exit 79, Peele noticed smoke coming from the front of the bus, which intensified as he pulled off the interstate and onto Long Ferry Road.
Judy Burris, transportation director for the school system, said Peele stopped the bus, got out and called 911.
Trooper J. M. Ward of the N.C. Highway Patrol was first on the scene and attempted unsuccessfully to put out the flames with a fire extinguisher.
Responding East Spencer firefighters found the entire front of the bus engulfed in flames and the rest of the bus filled with smoke.
Burris said the bus, a 1987 Ford, was one of the older models in the school system’s fleet of 48.
Burris said the system got four new activity buses this year and has enough money budgeted to get one to replace the bus that burned Tuesday.
The bus was insured. Burris estimated the loss at $8,000 to $10,000.
Burris said the cause of the fire is not known. The gasoline-powered bus had recently been serviced and inspected.
As soon as school officials became aware of the problem, they got a backup bus to pick up the band and ROTC members at North Rowan.