After escaping bus fire, UMass Lowell marching band performs in festival

WESTWOOD, Mass. — Shortly after escaping a bus fire Sunday, dozens of UMass Lowell marching band members performed in a Norwood festival.

Senior Glen Njeru, 22, was seated a few rows from the back of the bus when he heard popping and then smelled smoke while on I-95 Sunday afternoon.

Njeru called Deb Huber, Associate Director of University Bands, who was driving a short distance behind the bus.

“[Njeru] said, ‘There’s something else going on,’” Huber recalled. “He said, ‘There’s smoke. I don’t know what’s happening.’ He said, ‘Oh, my god. There’s fire!’ I said, ‘Get off the bus!’”

Njeru alerted the driver who exited the highway and pulled onto Rte. 109 in Westwood, as flames shot through the bus and a cloud of black smoke blanketed the area.

“I was just telling everyone to run,” Njeru said. “I wasn’t quite sure if everyone was off the bus, and the fire was getting higher and hotter.”

As Njeru helped his bandmates evacuate, Huber arrived at the scene.

“I pulled over. I just left my keys and everything there, and I started running down,” Huber said. “I saw the bus on fire. I started running toward where I saw the students getting off. I stopped a car. I said, ‘Please call 911. Our bus is on fire.’”

All students and staff safely exited. One student was evaluated at the scene for smoke inhalation and declined hospital transport.

“Within about 45 seconds, the whole back of the bus was engulfed in flames,” said Dan Lutz, Director of University Bands. “If [Njeru] had not forced them to leave, we would’ve had injured people. There is no doubt about that.”

Westwood firefighters, assisted by Norwood, doused the flames and pulled an estimated $100,000 in instruments and other equipment from the underneath bus compartments.

“While the tail end of the bus was still in flames, there were a number of firemen putting the back of the bus out while some of them were pulling the equipment out,” Lutz said. “They were fast, they were efficient, they were incredibly empathetic and helpful.”

About half the band’s uniforms were destroyed along with many students’ backpacks and personal belongings left on the bus.

But after another bus arrived to pick them up, every band member decided to perform despite their ordeal.

“The band decided that they wanted to perform anyway,” Lutz said. “We didn’t warm up. We didn’t have uniforms. Some people were in their stocking feet. Some people had shorts on, on the field. There was a number of people that were pretty seriously traumatized, having anxiety attacks.”

“For them to come together and be able to perform, I think we all needed each other,” Huber added. “And they needed that moment of, ‘We’re okay, this is okay, this is something we got through.’”

Huber said the university provost assured students who lost their belongings they would have new IDs, meals and other necessities provided for them once they returned.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Boston 25 News reached out to the bus company but did not make contact with them.

To donate to UMass Lowell’s marching band, visit: http://www.tinyurl.com/umlband26.

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