On Friday, April 4th, a semi caught fire in the Hartz Warehouse in Thief River Falls, just a few stalls down from the MCC school bus 13. TRF Fire Department responded quickly put out the fire, but bus received heavy smoke damage.
Kilen’s Custom Cleaners was hired to clean the bus inside and out, which took them three days to fully clean the bus, as well as running an appliance inside the bus to remove the smoke odor overnight. The bus returned to route on Friday, April 11th.
MCC Superintendent Jeff Lund explained, “It has worked well for us to store this bus in that warehouse as this route starts in Thief River Falls in the morning and ends in Thief River Falls in the evening. This saves us mileage and wear and tear on the bus had we stored it in Viking or Newfolden and drove it to TRF each day and then back and the end of the day. We will continue to store the bus there as it is a heated location.”
MCC’s Facebook page shared photos and a caption that reassured the progress, “Greg Hestekind, our driver was able to remove the bus. The bus was covered in smoke residue inside and out. Kilen's cleaners in TRF is cleaning the bus. Insurance from the building owners is covering costs of cleaning. We are thankful no one was hurt and cleaning is going well so far.”
Transportation Supervisor Adam Lokstad added “A big thank you to the firefighters on the scene. And also Greg, who cares about his bus. Thankful he would go into that smoke to drive it out with the firefighters’ help. He is part of a great team of bus drivers we have at MCC, I am honored to work with all of them!”
