Nobody injured in Rome bus depot fire.

Rome police are investigating the cause of a massive fire that destroyed six buses belonging to the Roma TPL public transport company at dawn on Friday 13 October.

Two teams of firefighters arrived at the depot on Via della Maglianella, to the west of the city, shortly after 05.00 and put out the blaze fully two hours later.

The fire destroyed five buses belonging to Roma TPL - which provides public transport services in Rome's suburbs - plus a school bus in public use. Nobody was injured in the blaze.

According to initial police investigations, the flames broke out from a bus that was about to leave the depot to go into service, reports news outlet RomaToday.

However the driver reportedly stopped the bus before leaving, due to problems with the gears, and went to get a replacement vehicle.

#Roma, intervento dei #vigilidelfuoco dalle 5:20 di stamattina per l’incendio nel deposito mezzi del trasporto locale in via della Maglianella: coinvolti 5 autobus e uno scuolabus. In corso le operazioni di messa in sicurezza [#13ottobre 7:30] pic.twitter.com/fhaWvI3nn7

— Vigili del Fuoco (@vigilidelfuoco) October 13, 2023

It is not the first time that fires have occurred at a bus depot in Rome in the middle of the night or at dawn: two years ago around 30 buses belonging to Rome municipal transport company ATAC were destroyed in a massive fire at the Via Prenestina depot.

In August 2021 three buses were destroyed at Grotta Rossa while seven buses went up in smoke in June 2020 at the Magliana depot.

Buses in Rome are also known to catch fire while in service, a phenomenon known ironically by Romans as 'Flambus', with poor maintenance and ageing vehicles cited among the factors.