Fire that damaged 4 buses being investigated as suspicious
The Wake County (N.C.) Public School System school buses caught fire last week in a lot at Southeast Raleigh Magnet High School. An initial review ruled out an electrical short as the cause, and although other buses in the same lot were vandalized and damaged earlier last week, it is not clear whether the fire is related to that incident, officials said.
RALEIGH, N.C. — WRAL reports that four Wake County Public School System school buses were damaged in a fire, possibly intentionally, last week in a lot at Southeast Raleigh Magnet High School.
Kendall Hocutt, assistant chief in the Raleigh Office of the Fire Marshal, told the news outlet that the fire is being investigated as suspicious, and that an initial review ruled out an electrical short as the cause. Other buses in the same lot were vandalized and damaged earlier last week, but it is not clear whether the fire was connected to that incident.
The fire started behind the driver's seat of one of the buses and spread to the others. Firefighters were able to extinguish the fire in less than 10 minutes, authorities told WRAL.
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