Firefighters responded Thursday afternoon to a school bus that caught on fire on the city’s Westside, according to the Santa Barbara City Fire Department.
Fire crews were called out shortly before 4 p.m. to Mission Street near Chino Street, where they found an empty Santa Barbara Transportat bus that had pulled to the curb and was on fire, said fire Capt. Gary Pitney.
Witnesses told Noozhawk the blaze appeared to have started in the engine compartment of the bus, and was putting out a large amount of black smoke.
Pitney said the bus had just dropped off its last passengers, and credited the driver with getting the vehicle safely to the side of road.
Firefighters were able to quickly control the fire, and no other damage was reported, Pitney said.
Mission Street was closed down for a time while fire crews mopped up the scene.
Check back with Noozhawk for updates to this story.
— Noozhawk executive editor Tom Bolton can be reached at tbolton@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
