 "Photo: Courtesy Photo")
A bus sponsored by the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship group was engulfed in flames as it brought back UNH students from a week of spring break volunteering in New Orleans on Saturday.
No one was hurt in the blaze, which occurred along I-85 in Georgia around 5 p.m., but numerous students lost belongings. The bus was one of two sponsored by InterVarsity, and it also held students from Franklin Pierce College and Mt. Holyoke College.
"The back left tire on our bus blew out and flew across the oncoming lanes of I-85 in north Georgia," said Ben Humphries, a member for InterVarsity staff who was on the bus. "The brakes proceeded to lock up starting a small fire around the back left tire."
Upon notice of the fire, students were ordered to evacuate the bus without stopping to take their belongings.
"A couple of people didn't even have both of their shoes on," said freshman Liana Newcombe, who was on the bus. One of the bus drivers, along with a local who stopped to help, used fire extinguishers to fight the flames. The other bus driver, assisted by InterVarsity staff, removed the luggage from underneath the bus to avoid it being fuel for the blaze.
The fire extinguishers were ultimately ineffective. The fire spread to the axle, then the back right tire, and soon the entire back of the bus.
Students were shepherded a third of a mile down the highway.
"From there, we watched the bus burn as flames went 10 feet above the top of the bus," said Humphries. "Fire trucks arrived and put the fire out after about 20 minutes, but the bus was destroyed."
Although the luggage stored underneath the bus was saved, all carry-on items were destroyed, including laptops, cameras, iPods, and $8,000 that had been donated to help subsidize the trip.
"I personally lost my backpack, some clothes, my pillow, iPod, phone, camera, wallet with my debit card, license, UNH ID, room key, some books, my homework and a bunch of small items," said Newcombe.
Humphries was quick to note students were kept safe during the incident.
"Despite how graphic the pictures are, no one was ever in real danger, as the flames spread slowly," he said. "By the time [the flames] had gotten out of control, the students and staff were well out of the way."
Students were taken to a local Holiday Inn Express, where they were provided with free drinks and cookies, along with donated Domino's Pizza. A backup bus arrived at 11 p.m. to continue the trip back to New Hampshire.
In Maryland at 9 the next morning, however, the same tire that had popped on the first bus popped on the new one, and the bus was led off the highway by a police escort. A third bus arrived an hour later, and students made it to the UNH campus by 8 p.m., 37 hours after they'd started.
Despite the losses, the service work they had completed the week before gave students a new way of looking at things.
"I find it kind of ironic that we spent the whole week helping people who had lost everything in Hurricane Katrina and we each only lost a backpack full of things, yet we were so upset about it," said Newcombe. "We are very fortunate that nobody was injured and that we all made it home safely."
This is the fourth year that InterVarsity has gone down to the Gulf Coast to assist in Katrina relief efforts. While there, students worked with Habitat for Humanity.
Be the first to comment on this article!