Mahwah school bus catches fire on way to school

A school bus caught fire in Mahwah on Tuesday morning while driving on Chapel Road, forcing the bus driver and a fifth-grader to evacuate the vehicle.

Two firetrucks were called to the scene to knock down the fire, which consumed the entire front of the bus before spreading inside and burning the seats.

The bus picked up its first passenger, Rocco Arcese, 11, en route to Joyce Kilmer Elementary School and drove five blocks before the fifth-grader alerted the driver that he smelled smoke, said Stacy-Perone Arcese, Rocco's mother. 

“When I got there the flames were already high in the air,” Arcese said. 

Eyewitnesses said the heat could be felt from a distance as the fire spread rapidly through the front end of the bus.

“The engine went from a small fire to engulfing within two minutes,” said Mahwah Town Council President Robert Hermansen, who drove by the fire after dropping his kids at school. 

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Fire Chief Ken Warnet said it's believed the fire was caused by a mechanical problem. No injuries were reported. .

Arcese said her son remained calm throughout the ordeal and took another bus to school. 

“To me that little boy is the hero. He recognized something wasn’t right and alerted the bus driver immediately," said Hermansen. 

The bus was contracted by the school district through Durham School Services, a school bus company located in Freehold, Monmouth County.

Staff writer Tom Nobile contributed to this report.

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