An OC Transpo bus caught fire during the morning commute around 7:45 a.m. in Ottawa's west end.
The double-decker bus was at Queensway Station by Iris Street when flames broke out. OC Transpo confirms it was Route 277 from Nepean Woods in Barrhaven, to Mackenzie King.
Ottawa Fire was on the scene quickly and had the fire under control in just over 10 minutes. All westbound Transitway routes are detoured at the time but returned to normal soon after.
Passengers aboard the bus were evacuated safely and remained on a separate bus that was brought to the site. No passengers were injured.
"He said everybody off and we all ran off the bus," said Tara Kuglar, a passenger on the bus.
"It had actually caught on fire not long after we had gotten off the bus."
"I just heard a loud and really scary noise," said Ali El Mousif, another passenger on the bus.
"Many people yelled and screamed."
Troy Charter, the Director of Transit Operations for OC Transpo maintains all buses in their fleet are safe and regularly inspected.
"It's not something isolated to double-deckers," said Charter.
"These events they can happen, they can happen on any time of bus."
Charter says it's early in the investigation and no cause has been determined yet.
"These events while unfortunate, we do take them seriously," said Charter.
"We will investigate and if there's any actions we have to take, we will."
One OC Transpo special constable suffered minor smoke inhalation and was taken to hospital for precautionary reasons.
The investigation is ongoing.
A release from the City of Ottawa:
Ottawa Fire responded to a call at 7:44 for a double decker bus at Queensway Station. The bus operator followed protocol and immediately notified the Transit Operations Control Centre. All passengers evacuated the bus safely and were accommodated on another bus that was dispatched to the scene. An OC Transpo special constable helped passengers evacuate the bus and suffered minor smoke inhalation.
--Attributed to Troy Charter, Director, Transit Operations
OC Transpo says the bus was carrying upwards of 90 passengers at the time.
Double decker on fire at Queensway station. #ottweather #octranspo pic.twitter.com/JttBXVfzYy
— Jennifer Dales (@JenniferDales) January 29, 2019
Traffic backed up on Iris as @OC_Transpo buses are being rerouted due to a double-decker bus fire. No passengers and no injuries. #ottawa #ottnews #otttraffic @ctvottawa pic.twitter.com/1oM4pDfp2y
— Christina Succi (@CTVChristina) January 29, 2019
As close as we can get. Spoke to several riders, none of which saw the bus but say this will cause them a huge delay, one student telling me he will be late for an exam. @ctvottawa #ottnews #otttraffic #ottawa pic.twitter.com/pV4yoGxcCY
— Christina Succi (@CTVChristina) January 29, 2019
More to come....
