About 60 William Diamond Middle School students and staff evacuated a charter bus in Woodstock, NH Friday night after one student noticed something disturbing: the smell of smoke. Within minutes, the vehicle was engulfed in flames.
The students were headed to Jay Peak, Vermont, for the school’s annual ski trip. No students were hurt, but one adult staff member was treated for smoke inhalation.
New Hampshire State Police told WBZ that investigators have not pinpointed the cause of the fire, but they have ruled out criminal activity. Approximately 100 students and 10 chaperones rode multiple buses on the trip.
Jennifer Bermont watched her two children board separate buses that night. One arrived safely. The other rode the bus that caught fire.
When her son called after being evacuated from the burning bus, Bermont said she was overwhelmed with “panic and disbelief.”
Bermont praised Diamond staff members for keeping families informed throughout the night. “The school did a great job,” she said. “We continue to receive emails offering support for our kids as they process this traumatic experience.”
Parent Ching-Ju Kuo agreed. “I truly appreciate all the teachers and chaperones for their quick response, which helped minimize the impact of the incident,” she said. “We received updates as soon as decisions were made about the next steps.”
After evacuating, the students walked with a police escort along Highway I-93 to a nearby McDonald’s. A replacement bus ferried students back to campus, where they were reunited with their families around midnight.
“The highway had been shut down at that point, so they were safe to walk down the road,” Diamond Principal Johnny Cole said.
After local firefighters contained the blaze, some staff members returned to the charred remains of the bus to recover what they could. The next morning, Cole said the school invited families to collect salvageable items from the bus and photograph property for potential insurance claims.
“Thankfully, [my son’s] ski equipment and luggage, which were stored underneath the bus, were all okay, albeit smelling of smoke,” Bermont said. “However, some of the other things that he had on board with him were left behind during the evacuation and were damaged by the fire.”
Cole said vehicle problems happen occasionally on school trips. Last year, one of seven buses broke down en route to Washington, D.C. Diamond staff members are trained on emergency protocols for situations like this, he said.
“We regularly have drills, we have a safety team that meets once a month to discuss instances like this, to debrief, and plan ahead,” Cole said.
However, he said this is the first time an incident like this has occurred on the annual winter trip, which Diamond has hosted since 2010.
“We take enough field trips that sometimes buses have malfunctions, but this was a very serious one,” he said. “Nothing like this has really happened before.”
A spokeswoman for Z&M Legacy, the motor coach company, offered few details. “The incident is currently under investigation and we do not have any additional information to share at this time,” said one of the company’s officers, Gabriela Pitts.
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration records show five Z&M inspections over the past two years. Four resulted in no violations. A fifth flagged vehicle maintenance issues, including an exhaust system concern.
“We are certainly not experts in motorcoach repair, so we would not have been able to spot an issue like this prior,” Cole said. “We do rely a lot on the vendors that we work with to make sure their equipment is safe.”
Bermont said the incident hasn’t shaken her confidence in the safety of school outings. “I feel so badly that the kids didn’t make it to Jay Peak, she said. “The kids have a blast. I hope they have the opportunity to go next year.”
This story was written by a journalism student in BU’s Newsroom program, a partnership between the university, The Lexington Observer and other news organizations in the Boston area.
No students were hurt, but one staff member was treated for smoke inhalation.
