No injuries are reported on delayed school bus; neighbors deal with a brief outage
By Howard Buck
Published: June 18, 2010, 12:00am
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No injuries were reported Friday afternoon when a Battle Ground school district bus veered off Northeast Worthington Road near Yacolt and sheared off a power pole, leaving a live power wire draped over the roof. Crews from Fire District 13 and North Country EMS responded and evaluated the driver and all 38 students from Amboy Middle and Yacolt Primary schools. A Clark Public Utilities crew shut down power to allow evacuation, resulting in a brief outage for nearly 1,000 customers.
Call it an electric ending to the school year.
A Battle Ground school bus carrying 38 students home from their final day of class Friday struck and snapped a power pole, knocking a live power line onto its roof and causing a brief, local power outage.
Students were trapped in the bus for several minutes.
But no one was reported injured following the incident, shortly before 1 p.m.
Route 13 bus riders had been picked up from Amboy Middle and Yacolt Primary schools, 19 students apiece, a school district spokesman said.
The bus was operated by Petermann Northwest, private school bus contractor for Battle Ground Public Schools.
Headed north just outside Yacolt, the bus apparently veered off Northeast Worthington Road and into a ditch near 354th Street, clipping the power pole.
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The driver kept riders inside and radioed for assistance.
Crews from Fire District 13 and North Country EMS arrived within minutes to evaluate all the passengers and the driver, while keeping the scene secure.
Soon afterward, a Clark Public Utilities crew arrived to deal with the shattered pole and downed power wire.
The crew cut the power, and removed the pole and line from the bus before restoring power to 981 customers after a three-minute outage, a utility spokeswoman said.
A relief bus delivered the stranded pupils while others continued home on foot, the district spokesman said. School officials notified the families of all the affected students.
Three customers remained without power until early evening.
The accident didn’t stop the Battle Ground school board from extending the district’s transportation contract when it met just hours later.
Petermann’s multiyear contract will expire following the 2010-11 school year, when the district will solicit bids for future service.
