Small vandalism incident on RTA bus

Local teens start fire on way to CB South

By Mark Reaman

Three local teenage boys are in some trouble after apparently starting a fire on an RTA (Gunnison Valley Rural Transportation Authority) bus last Sunday afternoon. The fire caused the bus to be delayed but did not cause any damage to the vehicle or to the people riding the bus.

According to an incident report from the RTA, the boys started the small fire with acetone and a lighter as the bus was coming out of Crested Butte and heading down valley to Crested Butte South about 2:25 Sunday.

While traveling down the hill from town toward Riverbend the driver heard shouts of “fire” and pulled over. The Alpine Express office, which runs the RTA buses, was notified immediately that there was an issue. The fire was out by the time the driver got to the back of the bus with a fire extinguisher.

The incident was small enough that the bus did not need to be evacuated but there was a delay of 17 minutes for the northbound 3:05 bus.

“A bus fire is potentially very dangerous,” explained RTA executive director Scott Truex. “There is a formal procedure in place to deal with such incidents. Luckily this was a pretty small fire that was out quickly.”

The Mt. Crested Butte police were informed of the incident and talked to the boys involved, along with their families.