Forty high school students and staff escaped injury Thursday morning when their bus went up in flames in Iroquois County. No one was hurt when the Peoria Charter bus on its way to Chicago for a field trip smelled of smoke, then went up in flames.  The bus driver had pulled off I-57 at Gilman.  Everyone evacuated before the bus was engulfed in flames.

Fire personnel arrived within three-minutes of a 9-1-1 call placed by a teacher on the bus.  The bus driver had parked the bus on the Gilman exit ramp after students in the rear of the vehicle alerted him of the strong smell of smoke. A passing semi-truck driver used a fire extinguisher to help douse the flames.  The bus was charred.  

A replacement bus arrived to take the group to Chicago. The equipment malfunction is under investigation.

94.1 WGFA