A Hopewell Valley Regional School District bus was destroyed Thursday morning after it caught fire behind the district’s administrative offices, but no students were on board and transportation services are expected to continue without interruption, officials said.
The Pennington Borough Police Department said officers were dispatched around 11:30 a.m. to the Board of Education building on South Main Street, where they arrived to find the unoccupied bus fully engulfed in flames. Fire crews from Pennington, Hopewell Valley, and Hopewell Borough extinguished the blaze.
One district employee was taken to the hospital as a precaution, according to police. Superintendent Dr. Rosetta Treece said the employee and the driver are both okay. And they were transported to the hospital as a precaution and to get checked out.
Treece said the bus had been started to warm up and the driver had stepped away momentarily when the fire was first noticed. “There were no kids on the bus. The bus is sitting here in the lot. Everybody’s okay,” she said. The vehicle, however…”the bus is gone.”
Police said foul play is not suspected. The investigation is ongoing and being handled by Pennington Borough Police Officer Caruso, along with the fire marshal.
Despite the loss, the district does not anticipate disruption to student transportation. Treece said existing vehicles will cover the affected routes for now, with any timing changes communicated directly to families.
The district will pursue insurance and begin the process of securing a replacement bus, but it’ll take some time. “This is very early in the process,” Treece said. “But routes will be covered.”
