A 23-year-old school bus caught fire in Anderson County late Wednesday afternoon, just minutes before dozens of students would have been aboard.
The bus, a 1995 model that serves Anderson District 5, had dropped off students from Homeland Park Primary School and Varennes Elementary School in Anderson about 15 minutes before its engine caught fire, according to district spokesman Kyle Newton.
The bus was headed to pick up dozens more students from Robert Anderson Middle School when the engine caught fire near S.C. 28 Bypass and Dobbins Bridge Road.
No students were on the bus at the time and the driver was able to get out safely, Newton said.
"There are always safety concerns when you are dealing with old buses," Newton said. "Multiple districts in South Carolina have had to deal with safety concerns because of old buses, and so do we. We are grateful that no students were on there and that the driver is safe."
In Greenville County in November, a bus carrying 29 Southside High School students caught fire. The driver pulled over after noticing smoke and small flames from the rear engine of the bus. No one was injured in that fire.
Anderson District 5, based in the heart of the city, serves the largest number of students in Anderson County.
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