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WITT, Ill. (WCIA) — No one is hurt after a school bus carrying the Pana High School football team caught fire after the Panthers’ game Friday night.
The fire happened as the team was passing through Witt on Illinois Route 16. Daniel Rogers, Witt’s Assistant Fire Chief, said there were about 45 people aboard the bus when they realized around 10:37 p.m. that something was wrong.
“Early indication suggests an issue with the brakes began ignition of the bus,” Rogers said. “The occupants of the bus could smell it, pulled over and noticed smoke.”
Everyone aboard evacuated unharmed from the bus, which became engulfed in flames a short time later. Photos taken by the coaches and posted on Facebook show the bus burned along its entire length.
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Photo courtesy of the Pana Panthers football team’s Facebook page -
Photo courtesy of the Pana Panthers football team’s Facebook page
Three companies from the Witt Volunteer Fire Department responded, along with a tender from the Nokomis Fire Protection District as mutual aid. It took 5,000 gallons of water to extinguish the fire, and the bus itself was a total loss.
“We said we wanted to start off hot this season, but this isn’t quite what we meant,” the Panthers coaches joked in their Facebook post.
Both the coaches and school district administrators commended the calm response of everyone aboard. Rogers credited the quick evacuation and everyone getting a safe distance away with preventing injuries and making the situation even more serious than it already was.
The bus driver, coaches and players stayed together and gathered about a block away from the fire. Another bus from Pana eventually arrived to take them home.
“It is easy in moments of chaos like this to lose composure. We are proud to say that that did not happen on the side of Route 16 tonight,” the coaches added. “Incredible courage was displayed by our bus driver, coaches, and players in a time where panic could’ve caused the unthinkable. Beyond anything else, Panther Nation, that’s what you should be proud of.”
In addition to Witt and Nokomis Fire, Nokomis-Witt Ambulance, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, Illinois State Police and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Police responded to the fire. The coaches and school district administrators thanked all of the first responders for the roles they played on Friday.
“The safety of our students remains our top priority, and we are thankful this incident ended without injury,” the administrators said.
