Crime & Safety

Fire Destroys Two School Buses on BOCES Campus

Witness says flames reached as high as 40 feet in the air near the North White Plains-West Harrison border.

A fire that reached as high as 40 feet in height torched two vacant school buses on a Southern Westchester BOCES campus Wednesday evening.

The buses were parked in a lot near the district's Rye Lake campus located along Old Orchard Street, near the North White Plains-West Harrison border. Authorities responded to the scene a little before 7:30 p.m. and contained it within 20 minutes.

Fire officials say they have no idea how long the fire had been burning before it was called in. 

Find out what's happening in Harrisonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"It was going pretty well when we got here," said North White Plains Fire Department Captain Andrew Seicol, adding that he was told the fire was visible as far away as the Park Lane and Old Orchard Street intersection several hundred feet away.

Two buses were left completely charred, but things could have been worse. The school's Director of Operations Tom Dibuono said the buses usually parked next to the burnt ones were in the shop for repairs. Seven other buses were parked in the area.

Find out what's happening in Harrisonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"If you had buses on either side the whole line would have gone up," Dibuono said. "We were very, very, lucky."

The North White Plains Fire Department was first on the scene, assisted by the West Harrison, Purchase and Armonk Fire Departments. A cause and origin team from Westchester County is investigating the source of the blaze.

"You do have electrical components and other components from the vehicle that could start the fire," said Seicol. "It's just like a regular vehicle fire."

There were no students or faculty on the campus when the fire broke out and no one was injured. 

"This is a very rare occasion," said Dibuono. "I don't know if we've ever even had that."


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.