FIRED UP


While added costs are always a concern for student transporters, several fire suppression options exist to increase school bus safety, especially for students with special needs


WRITTEN BY JULIE METEA B


rette Fraley had a curiosity about fire prevention. As executive director of transportation at Kanawha Coun- ty Schools, West Virgninia’s largest school district, he researched thermal events on his bus fleet and surpris-


ingly found at least four fires incidents in the past five years. No one was injured, but Fraley was alarmed enough to campaign for more than $100,000 to install 40 fire suppression systems (ten now and thirty later) on the Charleston district’s Tomas Built Buses Saf-T-Liner C2s for special needs students. Te district transports 252 special needs riders per day, 24 of them in wheelchairs. “It makes sense to protect students and the investments that


taxpayers have made for school buses. It’s like having insurance,” said Fraley. To showcase the investment, the district’s supplier Fogmaker lit up a trailer equipped with its fire suppression system. Parents, administrators and the media could see firsthand how they could act as a lifesaver.


Kanawha successfully petitioned the West Virginia Department of Education to pilot the systems late last year on 10 special-needs


38 School Transportation News • MARCH 2017 CELEBRATING25YEARS


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