A school bus carrying students from Foothill High back from their water polo game at Capistrano Valley broke down on the I-5 freeway Wednesday night, forcing students to evacuate near the Jeffrey on-ramp before the bus burst into flames.
Foothill boys water polo coach Jim Brumm said the bus pulled over on a triangle-shaped area near the Jeffrey on-ramp and the students safely exited the bus before flames and smoke “gutted” half the vehicle.
“Everyone is fine,” said Brumm, who wasn’t on the bus but had an assistant coach riding with the players. “The only thing we lost was a bag of balls.”
Brumm said the Tustin school district sent a second bus to bring the students back to Foothill.
Foothill player J.T. Miller took a photo of the bus that showed flames in the middle of the yellow vehicle and a large amount of black smoke billowing into the sky.
Please send water polo news to Dan Albano at dalbano@ocregister.com, on Twitter at @ocvarsityguy or via text at 714-932-1754
