Tour bus fire disrupts I-75 traffic

A tour bus that caught fire while it was traveling without passengers down Interstate 75 ended up tying up southbound traffic for several hours Friday morning.

The driver - who was the only person on the charter bus - reportedly smelled something burning, pulled into the emergency lane and got out of the bus before fire engulfed it, said Alachua County Sheriff's Lt. Steve Maynard.

Authorities suspect the fire may have been caused by faulty brakes. "It was a mess," Maynard said. "It burned the bus to the ground."

The fire occurred at 7:33 a.m. in the southbound lane at mile marker 380, which is two miles south of Williston Road and about a mile south of the rest area at the edge of Paynes Prairie.

Several fire crews were dispatched when it became clear the bus was fully engulfed in flames.

All three southbound lanes of I-75 were blocked, and traffic was detoured down U.S. 441 to Micanopy, where drivers were allowed to return to the interstate. Northbound traffic was also interrupted intermittently during the fire and clean-up operations.

Maynard said the fire posed a serious danger to traffic and to law enforcement and fire crews.

"It's a large fire, so it's not like you can pass any traffic by it. You're dealing with issues of exploding gas tanks, issues of exploding tires - all of those things are a hazard that can kill people," Maynard said.

"We had to shut the highway down. Within an hour-and-a-half to two hours, we were able to open one lane."

Traffic was backed up at a standstill to near Newberry Road.

Once an initial lane was open, many motorists continued to exit I-75. All lanes were reopened by 11 a.m.

Maynard said the shell of the bus was left after the fire. The bus was eventually loaded onto a flatbed trailer and hauled off.