Rhett Akins Bus Fire

Rhett Akins and his band left Nashville for Statesboro, GA around 1:30 AM on Saturday August 5, 2006. Sometime around 5:00 AM, after stopping briefly in Atlanta, our driver, David, discovered that the power steering had stopped working. This did not disable the bus; it just made it difficult to turn the steering wheel at slow speeds. We continued on and arrived in Statesboro shortly after 9:00 AM at which point David made several phone calls to find a garage to repair the bus. Being Saturday, most garages were closed and it took a while to find one that was open and willing to work on a bus. Around 11:00 AM we found a garage that was willing to take it on.

The mechanic worked on the bus while we all waited for a while in the hot Georgia sun. By 1:30 PM it was becoming obvious that he wasn't going to be finished in time for us to make our soundcheck on time, so I called the promoter and he sent a truck and trailer for us, our equipment and most of our luggage. We got to the Silver Creek Saloon, set up our gear and began our soundcheck. Around 5:00 PM I received a call from David saying the mechanic was unable to repair the power steering and had capped off a line that had been broken. David was now driving the bus to the venue which was about a 15 minute drive.

We continued our soundcheck and a few minutes later I saw that I had two missed calls from him. I called him back immediately and he said “Eric, the bus is on fire!” I said, in amazement, “What?” He said again, “The bus is on fire! I must be close to you guys because I heard loud music a minute ago.” I asked him if he was OK, and he said he was now off the bus and alright, but the bus was ablaze.

I turned to everyone on stage and said “Hey, I’ve got our driver on the phone and he said the bus is on fire and that he is close by!” Everyone just seemed to stare at me for a long moment as if I had 3 heads. I said again “The bus is one fire, and it’s somewhere close by!” Someone then pointed across the field and said “look there’s smoke!” We all looked and saw thick, black smoke billowing up through some trees about a quarter mile away. We all ran out to the street in front of the club.

At first glance you could barely even see the bus as there was so much smoke. Then our eyes adjusted and the eerie scene came into focus. You could see the bus about a block away, in the middle of a wall of black smoke with flames coming out of the back leaping 10 to 15 feet in the air. I asked a woman standing nearby to call 911 and she did. The fire intensified for a few minutes as we stood, mouths agape, in the middle of the road. There was a loud explosion (possibly a tire exploding) and we were all horrified. A few minutes later the fire department arrived and began extinguishing the fire. After the fire had been out for about 20 minutes, Rhett’s drummer, Cliff Thompson, and I were allowed to walk down to the bus which was now a smoldering charred mess that smelled badly of toxic smoke and burned plastic.

I found our driver making out a report with a police officer and spoke with him briefly. He was shaken, upset, and said that he had never been so scared in his whole life but that he was okay. “I was driving down the road and looked in the rear view mirror and saw smoke and flames coming out of the back of the bus” he exclaimed. “A few seconds later I heard an explosion in the back and knew that if I stopped where I was that the bus fire would ignite some mobile homes that were dangerously close to the road.” He took a gamble and kept driving for a few hundred feet until he was past the mobile homes at which point he tried to shut the engine. The engine wouldn't respond to the ignition key and David could no longer see the road because of the smoke, so he was forced to jump from the bus while it was still moving. A few seconds later the bus finally rolled to a stop.

Cliff and I were escorted onto the bus by a fireman and observed the ruins for a few moments. We stood in the front lounge of the bus while the fireman walked down the bunk isle to look for a few of our belongings. He was able to find one small vinyl bag soaked and smelling of burnt plastic in one of the bunks but that was it. Fortunately, we took most of our luggage and belongings off the bus when we had left the garage.

We gradually got back to our day, which was now quite difficult as we were all upset, distracted, and bus-less. Obviously our ride home to Nashville was now an issue and had to be dealt with. A call to the bus company prompted them to send another bus from Nashville, but it wouldn't be able to arrive until 6:00 AM the next morning.

We ate, showered and returned to the venue to perform. Rhett and band rocked the 1,000 plus crowd for an hour and a half. After the performance we tore down, loaded our gear and merch into two pickup trucks, and went to a hotel in town. We made trip after trip through the hotel lobby, carrying guitars, drums, and wheeling road cases past a confused looking receptionist. We stashed the gear in a room and began to wait for our ride home.

We all sat around and talked about all that had happened that day and how lucky we all were to be alive. Around 6 AM our replacement bus arrived and we slowly trudged all the gear back through the lobby, we were finally headed home.

If a few things had been slightly different, the outcome could have been much more disastrous. From where the bus caught on fire to where it would have been parked for the rest of the day at the club was less than a half mile. If the fire had started 5 minutes later, the bus would have been parked directly next to a plywood stage with PA and lighting equipment, all of our gear, the band, crew, and Rhett all in close proximity. This stage was no more than 20 feet to the Silver Creek Saloon nightclub and the stage itself was located in a field with dry, almost hay-like grass. Within 50 feet of the stage were several campers, vehicles, tents and people milling around. There were also people in the nightclub. If the fire had started with the bus parked there, I am sure it would have quickly spread to the stage and club; and more than likely across the dry field where the campers and cars were. If this had happened, I don’t see how at least several people would have escaped injury or death.

Another frightening scenario could have been if the bus had made it to the venue, had a chance to sit and cool, and not caught on fire until we were driving down the interstate at 70 mph with all of us asleep in our bunks later that night. It is unlikely any of us would have survived if that had happened.

This whole experience was very disturbing for all involved, and I would like to use this story to help increase awareness of bus safety. Many people have died in bus fires over the years. Some buses have smoke detectors and fire extinguishers, but many do not. A smoke detector could make the difference between life and death.

This also brings up an important point; the bus driver is in many ways the most important member of a tour, as is the pilot of an airplane. The safety of all the passengers is dependent on the driver’s ability, awareness, and judgment.

Treat your driver with consideration; talk to him while he is driving late at night. Ask him how he is doing and if he needs anything before you go to sleep. Make sure he gets plenty of sleep once you are at your destination. Make sure he gets whatever he needs to do his job, and give him the respect he deserves.