speed up evacuation times while maintain- ing vehicles through regular and thorough inspections.
“Te potential is there all the time, but
it doesn’t happen often,” said Coughlin. “It’s difficult to find people burned in a school bus fire.” Scott Starr, director of marketing for
Firetrace, agreed with Coughlin, report- ing that districts nationwide haven’t been supplying fleets with fire suppression technology, but “more and more are doing something now” that stories of bus fires are gaining more media attention. Firetrace, which Starr has been with
for 12 years, manufactures automatic fire detection and suppression systems that can be installed in any “micro-environment.” Coughlin said he has seen fire suppres- sion technology come a long way, but believes installation costs sometimes out- weigh the rate of return since such a small percentage of buses actually burn. Fire suppression technology can come with the
price tag of $1,000 to $1,500 per bus. Te cost, Starr pointed out, can make a lot of school districts hesitant, as administra- tors have competing priorities and budgets can be a “massive issue.” But what Firetrace provides is a “system that works and works well,” according to Starr. Firetrace offers fire suppression technol- ogy that uses a dry chemical powder that protects the bus from “a variety of fires” by containing and dousing the flames. When the technology is implemented, it
shouldn’t be utilized across the board, but targeting areas where bus fires generally originate, such as the engine compartment, where, as Starr reported, more than 70 percent of fires originate.
Coughlin, who will teach a session this summer at the STN EXPO on surviving a school bus fire, stated that he found a number of bus fires are the consequence of aging equipment, but he has also seen fires started by faulty wiring or hydraulic leaks. He understands the need for fire suppres-
An attendee at the 2010 STN EXPO evacuates a school bus during an on- board smoke demonstration.
sion technology installed on a school bus because, first and foremost, it’s about not “losing lives in a fire on a bus.” ●
www.stnonline.com 23
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