No injuries in Monroe school bus fire

No Monroe Public Schools staff or students were aboard a special-needs bus when it caught fire Tuesday, Jan. 24.

Earlier that day, bus driver Ray Mcleese had noticed warning lights coming on while driving the vehicle, wrote Erin Zacharda, school district marketing liaison, in an email. Shop staff researched the codes, and the lights were related to transmission problems, she wrote.

The GM transmission had been replaced in the vehicle the week before at Speedway Chevrolet in Monroe, according to Zacharda. Because the lights were coming on, the bus was taken back for more work the same day as the fire. Speedway Chevrolet mechanic Scott Nordquist was test-driving the bus when the fire started.

The extent of the damage is not yet known, but GM “is standing by their work” and will pay for any repairs to the bus, according to Zacharda. No bus route schedules were affected.