An electric school bus is pictured in this file photo.

At the Jan. 27 meeting of Westfield Academy and Central School Board of Education, board member Tom Tarpley shared information from a Zoom meeting he had with NYSERDA employees the previous week regarding electric school buses.

On Nov. 19, WACS board members agreed to send a letter to Gov. Kathy Hochul requesting the state delay the mandate for schools to transition to electric buses, while critical safety issues are addressed. The letter expressed great concern about the danger of electric bus fires, stating that “there is no clear code, standard or path as to how to protect an electric bus from a battery fire.”

The letter further stated that WACS and NYSERDA hired Wendel to conduct a study of electric buses. The study concluded that “additional fire protection requirements for the use of these powerful batteries are still very much undefined.”

On Jan. 2, board President Wendy Dyment received a reply from Adam Ruder, Assistant Director for NYSERDA’s Clean Transportation group. Ruder states the board’s letter to Hochul regarding electric school buses was forwarded to his attention.

Ruder’s letter states “the National Transportation Safety Board conducted an analysis of vehicle fires and determined that electric vehicles were significantly less likely to be involved in these events than their gasoline or diesel counterparts.”

Ruder goes on to explain why he believes there is no need to be concerned about electric bus fires. “Electric school buses all come with battery management systems, which are able to identify, and alert drivers or depot managers in the event that a battery is overheating.” He went on to say that “in the event of a crash emergency electrical disconnects automatically activate.”

Westfield Academy Board President Wendy Dyment shared Ruder’s letter with fellow board members at their meeting on Jan. 13.

The following week, on Jan. 22, Tarpley contacted state Sen. George Borello, who has introduced legislation in the state senate to authorize NYSERDA to conduct a study to determine the feasibility of converting school buses to zero-emission vehicles, and to analyze the conversion for rural, suburban and urban school districts.

Tarpley sent Borello and fellow board members a link to one of the multiple news stories about a fire that occurred Jan. 21 at a school bus yard in Wilbraham, Mass. There were four electric school buses being charged overnight when a fire broke out and destroyed all of the buses.

Tarpley said that he also informed Rudner at NYSERDA of this incident.

According to the January 21 edition of FIREFIGHTER NATION, “Fire ripped through four electric buses in Wilbraham Tuesday. The Wilbraham Fire Department responded to the garage where the buses are stored at 2043 Boston Road at approximately 1:30 a.m. and found four buses engulfed in flames. The fire caused delays for local schools.”

It was also reported that “the damaged buses are electric, with chargers visible on the property. The exact cause of the fire is still under investigation. No one was injured in the fires. The Fire Department is continuing to investigate the cause, but does not see anything suspicious about the fires.”

At their Jan. 27 meeting, Tarpley said NYSERDA confirmed the results of the study conducted last fall by Wendel. “In that Zoom meeting NYSERDA confirmed the information that Wendel had provided to our board where we asked the Governor’s Office in our letter about the amount of water and the extended amount of time that would be required to put an electric school bus fire out,” he said.

Tarpley said he also mentioned the Jan. 21 bus fire to NYSERDA representatives. “I did discuss the bus fire that had occurred in Massachusetts with NYSERDA and they indicated they would need to gather information about the fire before they could comment.”

Tarpley said NYSERDA assured him that they would follow-up with the information he has requested on behalf of the school board and the community.