GREENVILLE, S.C. --
School buses are spontaneously catching fire with children onboard. State officials said it's happened at least three times this past month in South Carolina; twice in Greenville County.
Still, kids are eight times safer riding on a school bus than in a car with mom or dad, according to the National Highway Traffic Administration.
In each of the three fires, the children were able to get off the buses without injury thanks to some quick thinking drivers.
Thursday afternoon, WYFF News 4 captured video of the latest school bus fire in Greer that forced 16 students to evacuate.
State education officials blame an engine problem.
The engine's system is called a turbo, and it's installed in more than 2,100 buses picking up kids in neighborhoods across the state. These buses were all manufactured in 1995 by a company called Thomas Built Bus, based in North Carolina.
According to the State Department of Education's Transportation director Don Tudor, turbo fires not only happen in these buses, but other diesel trucks across the country.
"Having a turbo fail is not a traumatic event. It is normal daily activity," said Tudor.
Tudor said these fires can be immediately put out with an extinguisher system in the engine compartment, but the states fleet doesn't have these extinguishers installed. The reason boils down to money.
"The frequency that we have these kind of events just financially makes it inappropriate for us to buy that kind of fire extinguisher system," said Tudor.
What may be a solution to one blaze, won't necessarily work for another.
WYFF News 4 captured video of the charred remains from a different Greenville County School bus that went up in smoke on March 26. That same day, a bus in Lancaster County had a similar fate. Both buses were made in 2008; again, by Thomas Built Bus.
Tudor said faulty wiring under the dashes caused the sparks, but there's no extinguisher that can be installed to put it out.
Tudor told WYFF News 4s Kim Quintero the problem is spilling into school districts elsewhere.
"There's been a similar event with a couple of buses in New York state that have had the same kind of electrical fire."
Tudor expects Thomas Built Bus Company will eventually issue a recall to get the problem fixed. Until then, he said mechanics are working around the clock to ensure rider safety.
"We are checking all of our buses that are of this model and watching them closely to see any signs of any components under the dash are overheating," said Tudor.
About 180 of these 2008 model buses are circulating throughout South Carolina.
Maria McCullough, a spokeswoman from Thomas Built Buss parent company, Daimler Trucks North America issued a statement by e-mail Friday afternoon.
Thomas Built Buses and other interested parties are aggressively investigating the root cause of these fires and will respond appropriately once those investigations are complete. Passenger safety will always be a top priority for Thomas Built Buses and we are thankful that noone has been injured in any of these fires, based upon what we have learned to date, wrote McCullough.
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