In Irkutsk after the municipal bus 55 caught fire, city officials went to Irkutskavtotrans to inspect the fleet and discuss the situation with management. The likely cause was wiring. No one was hurt.

On the eve of the incident, representatives of the Housing and Utilities Committee of the Irkutsk city administration visited the municipal unitary enterprise “Irkutskavtotrans.” They inspected the company’s vehicle fleet and held a meeting with management. As a reminder, on the evening of February 21, a municipal bus No. 55 caught fire near the “MVD Institute” public transport stop.
“I was driving from the regional hospital, and in the area of the ‘MVD Institute’ stop, passengers said there was smoke at the back of the cabin,” says bus No. 55 driver Viktor Chirikov of MUP “IAT.” “I pressed the fire suppression button, and the extinguishers activated. Then I started putting it out myself. One young guy, a passenger, helped me: he lifted the hatch while I was extinguishing the engine.”
At the time of the fire, there were approximately 30–40 passengers in the bus cabin. All of them left the cabin at the driver’s request. None of the passengers were injured. It was not possible to extinguish the flames before the rescuers arrived. The firefighters who arrived put out the fire. Nevertheless, the bus burned out completely and is beyond repair.
“The preliminary version is an electrical wiring fire. The fire started in the rear section, in the engine area, and the flames spread into the cabin. Two fire suppression nozzles activated, but they could not extinguish the fire,” explains MUP “IAT” Director Yuri Babiy. “The bus was in working order and underwent timely technical inspection.”
Yuri Babiy especially noted the driver’s actions in the emergency situation. Thirty years of experience allowed the driver not to panic at a critical moment and prevent casualties.
The burned bus was manufactured in 2008 and had a mileage of 300,000 km. According to the management of the transport enterprise, it could have operated for another seven years. A meeting with the suppliers of these buses, as well as with MAZ manufacturers, is scheduled for the near future. The cause of the fire is precisely technical, the enterprise says. Therefore, the manufacturers need to pay close attention to the fire suppression system in this bus model.
“The enterprise has been instructed to conduct an internal investigation and submit the results to the Housing and Utilities Committee,” said Yevgeny Shumeyko, head of the transport and communications department of the Housing and Utilities Committee of the Irkutsk city administration. “In addition, by the 26th, Irkutskavtotrans must conduct briefings both for repair staff and for drivers on preventive measures related to fires in transport. The fire suppression systems and extinguishers will also be checked additionally.”
Based on materials from the press service of the Irkutsk city administration