LUMBERTON — An official with the Public Schools of Robeson County said the school system’s buses are safe following the state’s order to local districts to inspect their fleets for a potential fire hazard.
The state Department of Public Instruction recently told school systems across the state to inspect buses manufactured by Thomas Built Buses during 1998 and 1999 after a Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system bus caught fire in February.
There were no injuries to the six students or driver who were on that bus. Investigators and school officials believe the fire was caused by worn wire coverings.
Robeson County has about 25 buses that met the criteria for inspection, according to Raymond Cummings, director of Transportation for the school system. Cummings said the Department of Instruction sent an email to school systems telling workers to put insulation tubing on the exposed wires.
“We did that before we went on break,” he said.
State law requires school systems to inspect their buses every 30 days.
“We looked for those sort of things when we do our general inspection,” Cummings said. “We’ve had a chance to go through all our buses.”
Robeson County has a fleet of about 270 buses that run daily, along with 29 spare buses and 63 activity buses, Cummings said.
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