Garage fire destroys six Kelloggsville school buses

KENTWOOD, Mich. (WOOD) — Kelloggsville Public Schools had to cancel school Friday because of a fire.

It broke out at the school’s bus garage just after midnight. Kent County Dispatchers said the fire was reported at 12:06 a.m. at the building near Southeast Kelloggsville Elementary, located off of 52nd Street near Kellogg Woods Drive in Kentwood.

The fire had heavy smoke and flames.

Watch footage of the fire in the player above, courtesy Lacey Charleston.

No one was hurt. Kentwood Fire Chief Brent Looman said six buses — almost half of the lot’s 14 buses — were destroyed and the bus garage is a total loss.

Kelloggsville Public Schools Superintendent Jim Alston said school and events will continue as normal starting Monday. The district will be borrowing a few buses from Kentwood Public Schools and/or Dean Transportation through the rest of the school year, Alston wrote in a letter to families.

Firefighters are still working to determine the cause of the fire.

“It’s not uncommon to have a vehicle fire in a garage, or in this case it’s a bus in a bus garage,” Looman said. “We’re not saying for sure that’s the cause, we don’t know. All six buses will have to be looked at, as well as any electrical inside the building. At this point, we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us.”

Louis Barnes, who lives near the bus garage, said he heard a commotion and a loud banging noise around midnight.

The father of two kids in the school district, ages 11 and 5, said he’s glad no one was hurt.

“(I’m) just very glad that it did not happen during the school hours with the children being here,” he said. “It could have been very traumatizing and/or very dangerous.”

The fire was contained to just the garage. The school itself has not been impacted.

— News 8’s Elena Cousino contributed to this report.

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