VIDEO/PHOTOS: No one is hurt after a school bus carrying the Pana High School football team caught fire after the Panthersโ game Friday night. The fire happened as the team was passing through Witt on Illinois Route 16. Daniel Rogers, Wittโs Assistant Fire Chief, said there were about 45 people aboard the bus when they realized around 10:37 p.m. that something was wrong.
โEarly indication suggests an issue with the brakes began ignition of the bus,โ Rogers said. โThe occupants of the bus could smell it, pulled over and noticed smoke.โ Everyone aboard evacuated unharmed from the bus, which became engulfed in flames a short time later. Photos taken by the coaches and posted on Facebook show the bus burned along its entire length. Three companies from the Witt Volunteer Fire Department responded, along with a tender from the Nokomis Fire Protection District as mutual aid. It took 5,000 gallons of water to extinguish the fire, and the bus itself was a total loss.
