Pennsylvania School District Forced to Cancel Classes After 25 Buses Destroyed

A stock photo shows police tape (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

A Pennsylvania school district canceled classes for Friday after 25 buses were destroyed overnight.

The destruction was a result of a fire at a bus garage in Orefield, reported ABC6.

The Parkland School District in Lehigh Valley then announced the cancellation of all classes.

The blaze broke out early Friday morning.

“All Parkland Schools are closed today Friday, February 23, 2018, due to a bus garage fire in our east bus garage behind the football stadium, causing damage or destroying approximately 25 buses,” said Rich Sniscak, superintendent, in a statement sent to families. “There will be no non-public transportation. Offices will open at regular times. Thank you.”

Sniscak said that the hope is school can resume on Monday.

“I’m hopeful that we’ll have school Monday. We talked to our vendor already and a lot of my colleagues and superintendents in other districts have offered to check their fleet to see what buses they can come up with,” Sniscak told The Morning Call. “I’m hopeful that we can patch something together for Monday.”

South Whitehall Township Fire Chief Jeff Johnson said that the fire was already intense when firefighters arrived on the scene just after 3 a.m. The cause of the fire has not been pinpointed.

Area residents described being woken up by loud noises.

“I went outside around 3:30 a.m. to see what was happening and could see the heavy smoke and orange glow from my driveway,” said North Whitehall resident Chrissi Kent.

“My daughter sent me a text from inside the house and asked me what was going on. I told her she had to come out and see this. When we walked to the bottom of our driveway we could see high flames above the trees.”

From NTD.tv

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