An insurance team is investigating the cause of a fire that destroyed five school buses and significantly damaged the Powell school district’s bus barn.

While the cause has not been officially determined, it’s possible a turbocharger on a bus overheated or that it was electrical in nature, said Jay Curtis, superintendent of Park County School District No. 1.

“Just any number of things that it could have been,” he told the school board Tuesday night. “The insurance investigator will likely be the final authority on that and provide us a written report.”

The investigator and adjusters were scheduled to go through the bus barn on Wednesday.

Curtis reiterated how thankful he is that no one was hurt in the Sept. 14 fire.

“Thank the Lord that nobody was hurt,” Curtis said. “Buses and bus barns are 100% fully replaceable, maybe not as quickly as we want, but human lives, not so much. So, definitely thankful for where that ended up.”

In good times, it takes three or four months to get a new bus, but in 2020, it will likely take six to eight months to replace those lost in the fire.

“The supply chain is very, very long,” Curtis said. “Manufacturing is going at a snail’s pace, as a result of the pandemic.”

The current Wyoming bid sheet shows that each bus costs around $111,000 to replace, Curtis said. In addition to the five buses that were destroyed, two others were damaged.

It’s been a tough year, but last week was particularly rough for the district’s transportation department, starting with a major fire and ending with a minor accident. On Friday night, a Powell activity bus hit a cow on top of the Bighorn Mountains, where it’s open range.

“The driver was way under the speed limit” at 37 mph, Curtis said. “But a black cow in the dark, facing away from you — there’s just not much you can do about that.”

Steve Janes, the transportation supervisor, and Justin MaGill, the district’s mechanic, headed up the mountain with a new bus, so kids could be taken back to Powell. They also brought a maintenance truck to make some on-site repairs to lights that were damaged — which was a main reason why the bus couldn’t be driven back down the mountain with students.

“It is so surprising how little damage was done to the bus,” Curtis said.

After working with MaGill on the lights, Janes drove the bus back to Powell that night.

Meanwhile, the district has been able to continue all of its normal bus routes since last week’s fire, thanks to the Cody and Lovell school districts. Within hours of the fire, both districts loaned buses to Powell so regular routes could continue that afternoon.

“I can’t thank our neighbors enough to both the east and west,” Curtis said, adding that the loaners have truly made a difference.

The superintendent also reiterated praise for the Powell Volunteer Fire Department for its rapid response and efforts. Firemen were able to contain the majority of the fire to one bay, he said, calling the fire department “absolutely amazing.”

“Frankly, they were heroic in the way they were getting in that building and even getting our other vehicles out,” Curtis said. “They prevented a tremendous loss of equipment, just in their actions.”

Board members also expressed their appreciation for the fire department.

Curtis said to his knowledge, Powell is the fourth school district in Wyoming to have a bus barn burn.

The insurance team will determine if the facility is a total loss, he said.

Trustee Don Hansen asked why there weren’t sprinklers in the building. Curtis said that it was built before sprinklers were a requirement, and he doesn’t know why they weren’t added with later updates.

School board vice chairman Trace Paul asked whether the five new buses could be ordered before the insurance details are all worked out, “to get our place in the queue.”

Curtis said he had asked the state transportation director that question, and was told, “once we get the letter from the insurance, we’ll be able to order.”

Buses will be parked outside during the winter, but the superintendent said the good news is that each vehicle is outfitted with a pro heater, “which is its own little kind of generator that preheats the bus.”

“So even if they’re outdoors, they’ll be able to get the buses warmed up and get on the road fairly quickly in the morning,” Curtis said.