A 15-year-old girl is accused of setting fire to — and destroying — a private charter bus used by a visiting Winnipeg Goldeyes opponent in a downtown parking lot early Thursday.
The Winnipeg Police Service said the girl is facing charges of arson and possession of incendiary material. She was released on an undertaking and turned over to a responsible adult.
The 56-seat bus, owned and operated by Windstar Lines, was parked in a lot directly south of Blue Cross Park, the Goldeyes’ baseball stadium, when it was set on fire at about 1:45 a.m.
It was being used by the visiting Kane County Cougars, based in Geneva, Ill. In a news release, police said a bystander saw someone inside the bus and “assisted in removing them.”
The vehicle was engulfed in flames when general patrol officers arrived. Two teenagers were taken into custody.
Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service crews extinguished the blaze. No injuries were reported.
The blaze destroyed the 56-seat bus, which was parked in a lot directly south of Blue Cross Park. (Diljot Garcha photo)
Jeff Greteman, president of Windstar Lines, said he was disappointed and upset after learning the bus had been set on fire.
“We’re a family-owned business and we do have insurance for things like this, but that just creates a significant financial burden on the company when we lose a $425,000 vehicle,” he said from the company’s headquarters in Carroll, Iowa.
“We’ve been in business for 31 years and we have never had anything like this happen. We’ve never had a bus set on fire.”
The Cougars, an American Association of Professional Baseball team, was in Winnipeg for a three-game series against the Goldeyes, which concluded Thursday afternoon with a 12-5 victory for the visitors.
“A very unfortunate incident,” said Goldeyes general manager Andrew Collier. “We feel very badly for the entire Kane County organization.”
This is the first time something like this has ever happened in the 32-year history of the franchise, which first hosted teams at the old Winnipeg Stadium before moving to their home at The Forks in 1999, said Collier.
After transporting the team to their downtown hotel following Wednesday night’s game — a 3-2 win by the Goldeyes — the bus driver parked the 2022 Van Hool motorcoach and conducted a post-trip inspection at about 10 p.m.
A 15-year-old girl is now facing arson charges in connection with the blaze. (Diljot Garcha photo)
“The vehicle was in fine condition and OK,” Greteman said.
Greteman learned about the fire at about 8 a.m., when the bus driver phoned company headquarters to deliver the news.
The Cougars, meanwhile, had to scramble to find alternative arrangements before they hit the road following Thursday’s game.
“I made a call to a longtime partner of ours, Beaver Bus Lines, and fortunately they had a bus and a driver available on short notice,” said Collier.
Cougars players and staff hopped on board and headed to Fargo, N.D., where they open a three-game series on Friday evening against the RedHawks. A Windstar Lines bus driver will meet them in North Dakota and take them home once that concludes on Sunday afternoon.
chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca
Chris Kitching is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He began his newspaper career in 2001, with stops in Winnipeg, Toronto and London, England, along the way. After returning to Winnipeg, he joined the Free Press in 2021, and now covers a little bit of everything for the newspaper. Read more about Chris.
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