23 students safely evacuated from smoking CVUSD school bus before it catches fire

Twenty-three students were aboard a Coachella Valley Unified school bus Friday morning when passersby alerted the bus driver of unusual smoke emanating from its exhaust pipe. After the driver got the children off the bus, the smoke turned to flames.

The bus was on its way to Toro Canyon Middle School and had stopped at 66th Avenue and Pierce Street in Thermal when people saw the problem just before 9 a.m.

The driver moved the vehicle off the side of the road, safely evacuated the kids and then phoned authorities, CVUSD spokesperson Patrick Sinclair said.

No one was injured. The students and driver were evacuated from the vehicle before the smoke turned into flames, a Riverside County Fire official confirmed.

Upon responding to the scene and dousing the fire, Riverside County Fire and California Highway Patrol officials took statements from the kids as a second bus arrived to take them to school.

Counseling staff were on site at Toro Canyon to talk with the students if they needed additional support.

The cause of the bus failure was not immediately clear.

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Desert Sun staff writer Paul Albani-Burgio contributed to this report.

Jonathan Horwitz covers education for The Desert Sun. Reach him at jonathan.horwitz@desertsun.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: CVUSD school bus catches fire after 23 students safely evacuated