2 mechanics taken to hospital after VTA bus catches fire in maintenance yard
San Jose firefighters extinguish a VTA bus that caught fire in a maintenance yard on Friday.
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Two Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority mechanics suffered smoke inhalation on Friday after trying to extinguish a battery electric bus fire that ignited on the transportation agency's property, officials said.
The bus was at San Jose's Cerone maintenance yard on Zanker Road for repairs, a VTA spokesperson said. The fire was reported around 11:45 a.m.
VTA called the two mechanics and five other employees, heroic, after pushing the bus out of the maintenance bay to avoid further damage to the building.
"It was very quick thinking," said Stacey Handler Ross of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority. "Immediately they jumped into action with seven of them pushing this gigantic bus out of the building."
Employees had to evacuate. Emergency responders arrived to put out the fire. The mechanics were taken to a local hospital for treatment, and are now recovering.
The bus that caught fire was one of VTA's ten Proterra battery electric buses and all of them have been taken out of service pending an investigation into the fire. The Burlingame-based bus manufacturer said there was no indication that the battery was involved in this fire. Proterra said the cause of the incident has not been determined and that they are cooperating with VTA's investigation. In addition, the manufacturer said they are offering field support to VTA.
"Even though, according to Proterra, this particular fire wasn’t caused by the battery, there have been a number of other issues Proterra buses," said electic vehicle expert Sam Abuelsamid of Guidehouse Insights. "There have been quality problems, issues with some of the buses having cracked frames."
Proterra, which filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in August, is still operating and is currently a major supplier of electric buses to transit systems across the country.
The fleet was purchased by the VTA at one million dollars a bus in an effort to fall in line with California’s commitment to transitioning to all zero-emission buses on the roads by 2040.
Bay City News contributed to this report.
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