Fire Destroys Dozens of School Buses, Bus Terminal

One of Wisconsin-based Dousman Transport’s bus terminals and about 34 school buses are destroyed. The terminal is being considered a crime scene, officials say.

Nicole Schlosser・Former Executive Editor

October 4, 2016

Fire Destroys Dozens of School Buses, Bus Terminal — One of Dousman Transport’s bus terminals and about 34 of its school buses were destroyed in a fire. Photo by Merton Community Fire Department

2 min to read

One of Dousman Transport’s bus terminals and about 34 of its school buses were destroyed in a fire. Photo by Merton Community Fire Department

MERTON, Wis. — Nearly three dozen school buses and a bus terminal here were destroyed in a fire on Sunday, and the location is being considered a crime scene, officials said.

At 12:58 p.m., the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department and the Merton Community Fire Department arrived at a Dousman Transport terminal and found the school buses to be fully engulfed in flames, according to a news release from the Sheriff’s Department. The school bus company's terminal was also destroyed.

Dousman Transport told Lake Country Now that it used buses from its other terminals and borrowed buses from Nelson’s Bus Service and Kobussen Buses so it could continue to transport students.

Dousman Transport President Rob Nelson told the newspaper in an emailed statement that the support the company has received from several other bus companies, local businesses, and individuals “is truly humbling.”

A total of about 34 school buses were destroyed by the fire, according to Lake Country Now.

A Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman told FOX6Now on Monday that the bus terminal will be considered a crime scene until investigators determine the cause of the fire. Officials from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were also on scene with Sheriff’s Department investigators on Monday.

View a photo of the burned buses and the scene posted by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel on its Facebook page below.

Topics:bus fires Wisconsin Safety

More Safety

Cover of a Pro-Vision whitepaper titled “Doing More With Less: A Transportation Director’s Guide to Managing Safety Budget Uncertainty,” featuring school buses, a school transportation scene, and safety technology imagery.

Doing More With Less: How Transportation Directors Can Prioritize Safety Amid Budget Uncertainty

With diesel prices soaring and nearly one-third of transportation directors expecting budget cuts, maintaining student safety has never been more challenging. Download this guide to learn how leading districts are prioritizing risk, funding critical safety technology, and building stronger budget cases with data.