Bus catches on fire

The Whitefish High School tennis teams escaped a dangerous situation Saturday with no injuries when the charter bus they were traveling on caught fire about 15 miles west of Laurel at 5:30 p.m. on Interstate 90.

Whitefish girls' coach Patrick Dryden said the fire started in the rear of the bus.

"The back, right-hand side; the wheel bearings or something like that," he said.

Whitefish was returning from the Class A state tennis tournament when it happened. Whitefish had 11 players competing in the three-day event in Miles City. On the bus were eight players, three coaches and the driver - Frank Newberry.

Three players rode home with parents from Miles City.

"We started smelling something," Dryden said. "We weren't sure if (it was the vehicles) in front of us."

Dryden said some newlyweds from Wisconsin, who had a 'Just Married' sign in their window, alerted them to the fire.

"(They) held up a sign as they drove by," he said. "It said: 'You're on fire.'"

Dryden said the bus immediately pulled off to the side of the road and Newberry "got us off the bus right away. We evacuated the bus in 20 seconds. It was fully engulfed in flames in two minutes."

Dryden said they tried to put the fire out with an extinguisher, "but it was like trying to put out a house fire with a garden hose.

"It was pretty amazing."

Dryden said Interstate 90 was blocked for at least an hour and a half. Eventually one lane was opened to traffic.

"I'm really thankful Frank stood up," Dryden said. "He was very forceful. He said: 'Everybody off the bus, we have a fire.' We took him seriously."

The team, players and coaches spent the night in Bozeman at the Windgate Hotel. Rocky Mountain Transportation of Whitefish was planning to send a bus to bring the team back to Whitefish today.

The Whitefish boys finished second at the state meet.