Calgary Bus Fire: What Police Know About the Deadly Crash

The Calgary bus fire that killed three passengers on Thursday is now raising hard questions about the natural gas buses that make up nearly half of the city's fleet. Police say a chain-reaction crash in the northeast neighbourhood of Saddle Ridge set one bus ablaze within seconds, and investigators are still working out why it happened.

What police say happened

According to the City of Calgary newsroom, a transit bus was heading north on Saddletowne Circle N.E. near 80 Avenue just after one in the afternoon on October fifteenth. Police believe it struck a truck in the same direction. That truck drifted into another lane, sideswiped an SUV, and then hit the back of a box truck.

The bus kept rolling, rear-ended a sedan and shoved it through the intersection. It then struck the back of a second transit bus that was sitting at a stop. The compressed natural gas tanks on that second bus ignited. Police said that within seconds the fire turned into an explosion and a major blaze inside the bus.

The second bus then rolled forward into more vehicles. Officials described a scene involving eight vehicles in total. Video from the area shows flames shooting up from the roof of the stricken bus and thick black smoke rising over the street.

The toll and the heroes

Three passengers on the second bus died at the scene. Thirteen passengers had been on board, and its driver managed to escape. The driver of the first bus was trapped, had to be pulled out by emergency crews, and was taken to hospital with life-altering injuries, police said.

Alberta health officials said sixteen people were hurt, though early reports cited as many as nineteen. Ten were taken to hospital, one in critical condition, and five more were checked as walking wounded. Among the injured was a police officer. Mayor Jeromy Farkas said a Calgary officer ran into the burning bus to save the life of a child, according to Global News.

Why the fuel is under the microscope

Calgary leans heavily on compressed natural gas. Reporting from the Calgary Herald says three hundred forty-seven of the city's forty-foot buses, or forty-four per cent of that fleet, run on the fuel, with the share set to reach half sometime next year. The city has called its Stoney facility the largest such refuelling complex on the continent.

The city says the buses cut greenhouse gas emissions by twenty per cent and nitrogen oxide output by ninety-five per cent compared with older diesel models. That is a big part of why they were adopted. But the head of the transit union, Mike Mahar, told reporters it was unusual to see this much damage and loss of life in a transit accident, and said such buses are generally safe.

Mahar also said the system should not be able to fail to this level. In his words, all the parts of this one lined up in the worst way. Calgary Transit said every CNG bus goes through regular inspection, maintenance and safety checks, and that it will review its CNG operations once it learns more from investigators.

What happens next

Nova Bus, the Quebec-based supplier of Calgary's CNG buses, declined an interview. A spokesperson said it is in contact with Calgary Transit and that it would be premature to speculate on a cause before a full investigation is finished. Police have not said what caused the first bus to lose control.

Calgary Transit is also in the middle of a major fleet change, including a purchase of one hundred twenty electric buses announced in August of last year. Whether this crash speeds up or reshapes that shift is an open question. For now, riders are waiting on answers, and families are grieving three people whose names have not all been confirmed publicly.

If you ride transit in Canada, the takeaway is simple: nothing here suggests natural gas buses are broadly unsafe, but the investigation will decide that. Follow more Canada coverage here as police release findings.