Fires Destroy 3 Toms River School Buses Overnight: Police

TOMS RIVER, NJ — Three school buses belonging to the Toms River Regional School District suffered extensive damages in fires early Friday morning at the district's transportation storage yard, Toms River police said.

The cause of the multiple fires remains under investigation, said Ralph Stocco, Toms River Police Department spokesman, with officers and investigators still at the scene.

Toms River Police Officer John Minor was on patrol about 2:40 a.m. along Route 37 when he saw smoke on the south side of the road, Stocco said. Minor searched the area and found the smoke was coming from behind 2301 Industrial Way, where he found several vehicles engulfed in flames, Stocco said. Two Chevrolet buses and one Ford bus suffered extensive damage, he said, and a Ford F150 pickup received some minor secondary damage, Stocco said.

The vehicles are owned by the Toms River school district and they were within the transportation storage area at the time of the incident, he said.

Toms River Fire Companies 1 and 2 responded and ultimately extinguished the multiple fires, Stocco said.

The police department worked overnight with Schools Superintendent David Healy and his staff to ensure that no morning bus routes were negatively affected, he said.

The cooperative investigation is being conducted by Toms River Bureau of Fire Prevention Inspector Kevin Britton, Toms River Police Detective Mark Bajada, Ocean County Prosecutors Arson Detective John Doran, and Ocean County Sheriff's C.I.U. Officer Jillian Menke, Stocco said.

Photos provided by Toms River Police Department