Weekend Gold Coast Bulletin

Flaming lucky escape as Surfside vehicle gutted

- LUCY KINBACHER AND NICHOLAS MCELROY

A SURFSIDE bus driver miraculous­ly escaped from the rear exit of his bus as it burst into flames next to a busy Nerang complex yesterday afternoon.

It’s understood the driver had pulled up alongside the Nerang Bicentenni­al Community Centre about 2pm when the bus caught on fire.

Nobody was on board and employees of neighbouri­ng buildings were evacuated as firemen battled to contain the blaze which gutted the vehicle.

Dwayne Nicol witnessed the fireball and quickly grabbed his camera to capture the inferno.

“I work at the gym across the road and I just saw this fire start at the back of the bus and surge to the front after the bus pulled in,” he said.

“A fire truck turned up and tried to put the fire out ... in 10 minutes it just went up.”

Firemen were concerned the blaze may threaten the neighbouri­ng community centre and had a protective hose on the building while also focusing on the main bus fire.

In the end, the centre suffered only minor damage but an employee’s van parked beside the bus was badly damaged by the heat.

Southport station officer Scott Williams said the incident could have been a lot worse had the Nerang fire crews not responded so quickly.

“We were quite lucky that our new fire station (crew) from Nerang was able to get here in quite a quick response and my truck also from Southport Fire Station,” he said.

“We could see the thick, black smoke on the way here.”

The driver was uninjured and Surfside Buslines is working with authoritie­s to determine the cause.

The Nerang Bicentenni­al Community Centre will be closed this weekend to repair the damage.

 ?? Picture: DWAYNE NICOL ?? The Surfside bus on fire at Nerang yesterday and (below) the gutted remains.
Picture: DWAYNE NICOL The Surfside bus on fire at Nerang yesterday and (below) the gutted remains.
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