Live power line tangles with school bus
March 12, 2009
By Laura Geggel
A Snoqualmie Valley school bus mistakenly ran over a downed power line the morning of March 12. At around 6:50 a.m., a school bus driver realized she had accidentally driven over the line on Lake Marie Road near Fall City. Both the middle school student — the only passenger on the bus — and the driver are safe.
Once the driver realized the power line was caught on the front of the bus, she stopped the vehicle and called her dispatch and 911. Both she and the student remained on the bus, relying on the bus’ rubber tires to shield them from electric shock.
Help from the school district, Fall City Fire Department and Puget Sound Energy soon arrived to the scene. The district notified the student’s parents and called the remaining middle school and high school students who were waiting to be picked up to warn them of the delay and road closure.
The district dispatched another bus to finish the route for Chief Kanim and Mount Si High School students. All of the children arrived to school on time.
The lone student on the bus also made it to Chief Kanim on time after a lift from Jim Garhart, the district’s transportation supervisor.
“That student got a personal escort,” said Carolyn Malcolm, SVSD public information coordinator.
Authorities at Puget Sound Energy confirmed that an earlier, unreported car accident had collided with the electric pole the night before, causing the power and telephone lines to fall to the road.
Before untangling the school bus the following morning, PSE turned off the power grid to de-energize the live wire. The road was reopened around 7:45a.m., and power was restored to the grid at noon.
The district is inspecting the bus for damage before returning it to service.
“Student safety remains our top priority and appropriate safety measures were implemented this morning,” Malcolm said.
Reach reporter Laura Geggel at 392-6434 .221 or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.
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Hello i was the student on the bus at the time and you got the time rong it happend at 6:23 AM i had just looked at my cell phone to see if the sub bus driver was on time with the stops!