Ottawa Fire says a fire on board a double-decker bus was extinguished quickly.
Firefighters were called to the Queensway Transitway station near Iris St. at around 7:44 a.m. Tuesday. They found no passengers on the bus, as they had already evacuated. The fire was declared under control by 7:55 a.m.
One OC Transpo special constable helped in the evacuation and suffered minor smoke inhalation, according to City of Ottawa Director of Transit Operations Troy Charter.
Ottawa Paramedics say the special constable was transported to hospital as a precaution.
A second bus was dispatched to take the evacuated riders away from the scene.
None of the passengers were hurt.
OC Transpo says westbound Transitway buses, which were being rerouted, are back on their normal routes.
The detour from Queensway station has been lifted. Service has returned to its regular routing.
— OC Transpo Live (@OCTranspoLive) January 29, 2019
Traffic backed up on Iris as @OC_Transpo buses are being rerouted due to a double-decker bus fire. No passengers and no injuries. #ottawa #ottnews #otttraffic @ctvottawa pic.twitter.com/1oM4pDfp2y
— Christina Succi (@CTVChristina) January 29, 2019
This isn't the first case of a fire on a double-decker bus in Ottawa. A bus carrying about 80 passengers was destroyed by a fire in January of 2017. All passengers were able to safely evacuate and no one was hurt.