VIDEOS: More than two dozen brand-new school buses were destroyed or damaged when a 2-alarm fire raged through a Puyallup school bus maintenance facility Wednesday afternoon.
The fire broke out around 2:30 p.m. in the 300 block of 12th Street NW, sending a large plume of black smoke that was visible for miles, and explosions were heard in the area.
Brian Foxx with the Puyallup School District says all staff are accounted for and there are no reports of anyone injured. Police said 70 people were at the scene when the fire broke out.
Marie McKenna lives three houses away from the bus barn and could feel the heat and hear the booms.
"You could see the flames coming up over my neighbor's house," she said. "You heard the booms going from the tires I guess, they shook the entire house."
Video from Air 4 showed about 10 buses were reduced to a scorched frame with several others damaged. Puyallup Police said at least 26 buses in all suffered damage.
"The firefighters did a good job from impinging on the building itself. There's a maintenance area outside the building under the eves where the buses where parked. As far as we can tell, this is where it may have started, at least from eyewitnesses initially," said Brian Levins with Central Pierce Fire and Rescue.