By Taylor Boyd
Students and a school bus driver were unharmed Sept. 9 after a Patrick County Public Schools bus struck a downed telecommunications cable, marking the second incident involving a school bus in the county in two weeks.
The earlier incident occurred Sept. 1, when a tractor-trailer struck a Patrick County Public Schools bus on U.S. 58 at Trot Valley Road, injuring the tractor-trailer driver.
Schools Superintendent Dr. Jason Wood said the most recent incident occurred as the bus was turning around on a road.
“What truly happened is as the bus went to turn around, it’s God’s providence that a tree didn’t fall on the bus, but in that short amount of time a tree fell down onto a powerline causing it to start a fire,” he said.
When the bus returned through the area, the driver noticed the fire but could not see the telecommunications cable, Wood said.
“So all the bus actually hit was a telecommunications cable. When AEP (Appalachian Power) arrived on the scene they just cut that with actual wire cutters to remove the cable to allow the bus to move. But the bus driver didn’t know if it was a live wire that the bus actually did hit,” he said.
Because it was unclear whether the cable was live, students were evacuated as a standard safety precaution.
No children or the bus driver was injured, and Wood said the bus was not damaged.
“We’re thankful there’s no damage to the bus. The bus didn’t cause the fire, so I know a lot of misinformation got out there that the bus was on fire, but that didn’t happen,” he said.
Wood also thanked the first responders who responded to the scene.
“We’re thankful for all the first responders who came on the scene, and they were quickly able to assess the situation, and put the fire out,” he said.
Wood said first responders also discovered another fire on a nearby road while responding to the bus incident.
“They had so much support and help on the scene they put out another fire they would not have known about had they not reported to the bus situation,” Wood said.
