The University of Central Florida is asking all shuttles be inspected following a fire that left one shuttle burnt to crisps.
“We have no indication of any problem with the other shuttles that serve the UCF community, but student safety is certainly our top priority,” UCF spokesman Mark Schlueb said. “We’ve asked our contractor to inspect the rest of the UCF fleet to make sure there are no problems.”
Orange County Fire Rescue credited the cause of the shuttle bus fire on March 16 to “failure of equipment,” a report said. No other shuttles have been found with any problems.
There were four students aboard the shuttle when the driver told investigators he smelled something off. The driver evacuated the shuttle, which was near the intersection of Alafaya Trail and Challenger Parkway. Shortly after, it erupted into flames, destroying the bus.
Keith Morlock was nearby when he noticed the bus start to catch on fire.
“It looked like the front left tire was on fire and it grew from there. The driver got all the students out and they abandoned ship before it got worse. Not much left,” Morlock said.
