Northern Virginia Bureau reporter David Culver reports on efforts to find the cause of a fire that damaged two Fairfax County school buses.
An early morning fire destroyed two school buses near a Chantilly high school early Wednesday morning.
One bus was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived at the school bus parking lot across the street from Westfield High School around 12:30 a.m. The fire spread to a second bus, gutting both.
No one was injured.
Officials still don't know what started the fire but say it's too early to speculate about foul play.
"Obviously people see these types of things and they're immediately thinking, a bus in a parking lot, it's an arson fire," said Deputy Chief Mike Reilly of the Fairfax County Fire Marshal's Office. "Right now, we have not ruled that out, but it's not a primary concern right now."
Fire investigators are looking into whether the property was properly locked up and whether there was someone who shouldn't have been there.
"If the origin and cause was in fact a mechanical malfunction, that would be obviously talked to and shared with the school board," Reilly said. "The school board would evaluate whether or not their school system is at risk for that same type of fire."
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The fire caused about $160,000 in damage. The school district says until a cause is determined, there's no plan to pull any buses out of service.
The fire will not impact afternoon drop-offs for students.
