An electric school bus serving the Los Angeles Unified School District erupted in flames under a freeway overpass in the San Fernando Valley, turning a symbol of clean transportation into a dramatic roadside emergency. The fire, which unfolded near a major commuter artery, raised fresh questions about how prepared cities really are for the risks that come with lithium-powered fleets.
No children were on board when the bus burned, and firefighters ultimately contained the blaze, but the incident left behind a charred shell, a hospitalized driver, and a lingering sense that the transition to electric school buses is moving faster than the safety playbook built to support it.
How a quiet school run turned into a freeway fire scene
The morning began like any other for a Los Angeles Unified School District driver navigating a route through the foothill communities of the San Fernando Valley. That routine shattered when an electric school bus used by the Los Angeles Unified School District suddenly caught fire on the streets of Sunland, with flames quickly spreading from underneath the vehicle and thick smoke pouring into the air. The bus, part of the district’s push to replace diesel models with battery-powered vehicles, became an instant hazard not only to its driver but to nearby traffic and homes.
As the situation escalated, the burning vehicle came to a stop under a freeway overpass in the neighboring community of Lake View Terrace, where drivers on the adjacent freeway watched an EV school bus with LAUSD engulfed in flames. The location, wedged beneath concrete and near the busy 210 corridor, complicated the response, as firefighters had to manage not only the burning bus but also the risk of heat and smoke affecting the structure above and the flow of vehicles around the scene.
What witnesses saw under the 210 overpass
From the vantage point of passing motorists, the fire looked like a worst case scenario for electric transit. Video captured from the freeway showed an EV school bus with LAUSD parked under the 210 overpass, its rear section fully involved and flames licking up toward the underside of the bridge. Drivers slowed or stopped as black smoke billowed across lanes, turning a routine commute into a rolling bottleneck framed by flashing emergency lights and the eerie silhouette of a school bus on fire.
Closer to street level, residents and bystanders in Lake View Terrace watched as firefighters attacked the blaze from multiple angles, focusing on the underside of the bus where the battery pack and key electrical components are typically housed. In one clip, the vehicle sits immobilized while firefighters direct streams of water and foam at the chassis, a scene that matches earlier footage from Sunland where flames were already visible beneath the bus as crews began their initial fire attack, a moment captured in detail in aerial video from Electric school bus catches fire in Sunland.
No children aboard, but a driver in the hospital
For parents across Los Angeles, the most important fact is also the most relieving one: no children were on board this LAUSD electric school bus when it burned under the freeway overpass. The vehicle was not carrying students at the time of the incident, which meant firefighters and paramedics could focus on the driver and the fire itself rather than a mass evacuation. That single detail turned what could have been a tragedy into a narrowly contained emergency, even as the images of a school bus in flames rattled families who rely on the district’s fleet every day.
The driver, however, did not walk away unscathed. According to reporting that described how the blaze unfolded, the driver was hospitalized after the incident, a reminder that even without passengers, an electric bus fire can pose immediate danger to the person behind the wheel. The combination of smoke inhalation, potential exposure to toxic fumes, and the stress of escaping a burning vehicle can all send a driver to the emergency room, as reflected in accounts that note the driver’s condition after the electric school bus catches fire in Los Angeles.
Inside the LAFD response to a lithium battery blaze
Once the first calls came in, the Los Angeles Fire Department treated the burning bus as more than a standard vehicle fire. Because the bus is powered by lithium-ion batteries, LAFD said its HazMat units were called in to monitor air quality and assess any runoff or residue that might pose a risk to nearby neighborhoods. Lithium-ion fires can reignite after appearing to be out, and they can release gases that are far more complex than those from a typical gasoline or diesel blaze, which is why the department framed the response as a prolonged stabilization effort rather than a quick knockdown.
On scene, firefighters faced the dual challenge of extinguishing visible flames and cooling the battery system enough to prevent a thermal runaway from spreading through additional cells. Officials warned that the process of ensuring the bus was fully stabilized could take several hours, a timeline that aligns with the extended operations described in coverage of the LAUSD electric school bus fire under the freeway overpass. That kind of drawn out response is becoming more common as fire departments adapt their tactics to the unique behavior of high capacity lithium-ion batteries when they fail catastrophically.
Why electric school buses burn differently
Electric school buses promise cleaner air and quieter streets, but when something goes wrong, the physics of their powertrains can turn a localized problem into a stubborn, high heat event. Lithium-ion batteries store energy densely, and if a cell is damaged or overheats, it can trigger a chain reaction known as thermal runaway that rapidly spreads through neighboring cells. In the case of the LAUSD bus, flames were seen underneath the vehicle, a pattern consistent with a battery or undercarriage component failure, as shown in the aerial footage of firefighters attacking flames beneath the bus in Electric school bus catches fire in Sunland.
Unlike a diesel fire, which often involves fuel lines or engine compartments and can sometimes be smothered relatively quickly, a battery fire can continue to generate its own oxygen and heat even after the visible flames are knocked down. That is why LAFD deployed HazMat units and warned that the bus might need to be monitored for several hours after the initial fire attack, a detail echoed in the reporting that notes how long it could take before the vehicle was fully stabilized in the electric school bus catches fire in Los Angeles account. For school districts and transit agencies, that difference is not academic, it shapes everything from training to route planning and emergency protocols.
Traffic chaos and the challenge of freeway-side emergencies
Location turned this fire from a contained street incident into a regional traffic problem. When the bus came to rest under the freeway overpass in Lake View Terrace, the California Highway Patrol initially closed nearby on and off ramps to keep drivers away from the smoke and to give firefighters room to work. That decision, while necessary for safety, rippled through the morning commute, as vehicles backed up along the 210 and surface streets absorbed the overflow. For drivers, the sight of a burning school bus framed by concrete columns and freeway signage was both unsettling and disorienting.
Firefighters had to balance the urgency of extinguishing the blaze with the structural realities of working beneath a major bridge. High heat can damage concrete and steel, and falling debris or spalling concrete can endanger crews operating directly under the overpass. Video from the scene, including the Electric School Bus Fire clip labeled with LAFD, Date, Time, and Location, underscores how carefully crews positioned their engines and hose lines to protect both themselves and the structure above. That choreography is now part of the new normal as more electric vehicles share space with aging freeway infrastructure.
What the fire reveals about LAUSD’s electric transition
Los Angeles Unified School District has been aggressively moving to electrify its bus fleet, framing the shift as a way to cut emissions and reduce children’s exposure to diesel exhaust. The bus that burned in Sunland and Lake View Terrace was part of that broader transition, an EV school bus with LAUSD that symbolized the district’s commitment to cleaner transportation. The fire does not erase the environmental benefits of that strategy, but it does highlight the operational and safety questions that come with putting high voltage vehicles into daily service on crowded urban streets.
In the immediate aftermath, LAUSD faces a dual test: reassuring families that their children are safe on electric buses while working with LAFD and other agencies to understand exactly what went wrong. The fact that no children were aboard and that the driver was able to escape, even if hospitalized, gives the district some breathing room to investigate without the shadow of fatalities. Yet the vivid images of the burning bus under the freeway overpass, captured in clips like the LAUSD electric school bus catches fire under freeway overpass short, will likely fuel calls for transparent reporting on maintenance records, battery sourcing, and emergency training for drivers.
How firefighters and districts can adapt to the next EV bus fire
From my perspective, the most important lesson from this incident is not that electric school buses are inherently unsafe, but that the systems around them need to evolve as quickly as the technology itself. Fire departments like LAFD are already adjusting, deploying HazMat units, refining tactics for cooling battery packs, and planning for multi hour stabilization operations whenever a large lithium-ion system is involved. The Electric School Bus Fire video that lists LAFD, Date, Time, and Location shows a department treating the scene as a complex, evolving hazard rather than a routine vehicle fire, which is exactly the mindset that will be required as more electric buses hit the road.
School districts, meanwhile, can use this fire as a case study for driver training, route design, and communication with parents. Drivers need clear protocols for what to do if they smell smoke, see warning lights, or feel unusual vibrations from the battery area, and they need regular drills that simulate evacuations both on surface streets and near freeway ramps. LAUSD’s experience in Sunland and Lake View Terrace, where flames were visible underneath the bus and the vehicle ultimately burned under a freeway overpass, should inform updated playbooks that prioritize early detection, rapid evacuation, and close coordination with agencies like LAFD and the California Highway Patrol whenever an electric school bus shows signs of distress.
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