1981 — June 26, Converted Bus/motor home fire, I-15, Cajon Pass, near Victorville, CA–10

—  10  AP. “Fiery Motor Home Crash Fatal to 10, Injuries 20,” Titusville Herald, PA. 6-27-1981.

—  10  Jones. “1981 Multiple-Death Fires in the U. S.,” Fire Journal, V.76, N.4, July 1982, 68.

—  10  National Fire Protection Program.  The 1984 Fire Almanac.  1983, p. 140.

—  10  National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.  FARS 1975-2010 Fatality Analysis.

 

Narrative Information

 

June 27, Associated Press: “San Bernardino, Calif. (AP) – A converted bus carrying seven families burst into flames and rolled into two other vehicles Friday, killing 10 people and injuring up to 22 others, officials said.  The accident occurred on a steep grade of Interstate 15 at Cajon Pass, 16 miles south of Victorville, said the California Highway Patrol. All but two of the victims were aboard the motor home officials said.  The bus, converted into a mobile home, was engulfed in flames.

 

“The blaze touched off a small brush fire that firefighters limited to five acres….

 

“Seven families – all related except for one child – were on the bus, troopers said. Trooper William Snell, one of the first on the scene, said the accident occurred after the bus began smoking.  ‘The driver pulled over to the side to check on it,’ he said.  ‘As he was looking under the back, there was a loud noise and the bus caught fire. It apparently burned through the brakes and the bus began rolling backward.  It hit a flatbed truck and a station wagon and continued to roll back.’  The bus rolled across the road and into a small ravine.  ‘They apparently couldn’t open the back door and people were running out the front door of the bus.  As I understand it, anybody who got off it (the bus) before it started rolling was OK,’ Snell said.

 

“The families were on their way to a Fourth of July reunion in Missouri, said officials at Loma Linda University Medical Center, where five of the injured were taken….”  (Titusville Herald (PA).  “Fiery Motor Home Crash Fatal to 10, Injuries 20,” June 27, 1981.)

 

Sources

 

Associated Press. “Fiery Motor Home Crash Fatal to 10, Injuries 20,” Titusville Herald, PA. 6-27-1981. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=104256286

 

Jones, Jon C.  “1981 Multiple-Death Fires in the United States,” National Fire Protection Association. Fire Journal, Vol. 76, No. 4, July 1982, p. 68.

 

National Fire Protection Association. The 1984 Fire Almanac. Quincy, MA: NFPA, 1983.

 

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Partial Data Dump of Crashes Involving 10 or More Fatalities, by Year, Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) 1975-2009 Final and 2010 ARF. Washington, DC: NHTSA, pdf file provided to Wayne Blanchard, 1-26-2012.