Update: Western Mustangs' Bus Catches on Fire
The bus on fire. Photo: Sean McKay - A Western Mustangs Men's Volleyball Player.Well if you follow Ontario volleyball even remotely, you have surely heard by now that the University of Western Ontario's team bus caught on fire Sunday evening. As we wrote before, the bus caught fire on way back from the Mustangs' games against the University of Toronto. When we wrote that post, we didn't know much so we have decided to ask around and write a follow up.
We spoke with UWO Mustang's men's volleyball right side player, Mathieu Poulin to find out what happened on the bus. Poulin told us that none of the team members on the bus thought it was a big deal at first.
"The reaction to the bus fire was pretty tamed at start. When we were told to get off the bus, everyone thought it was just routine." This immediately changed when the team exited the bus and saw the reason they pulled over. "When we got outside, we saw that the back of the bus where the engine is, was on fire and we immediately started worrying". As soon as they realized what was going on, the teams then had to get away as far as possible. As they watched their bus burn, was when the teams realized that all their stuff was probably gone. The UWO Gazette quotes men's volleyball Head Coach Jim Sage:
Prior to the evacuation, many players remained uncertain about the severity of the situation, causing many of them to leave their personal belongings, including laptops and volleyball equipment on the bus.
“Some personal items that were left on the bus were either destroyed by smoke, fire or water,” Sage said. “We have to replace uniforms, shoes and kneepads.”