91³Ô¹ÏÍø

Watch CBS News
Local News

Bus carrying UMass Lowell students catches fire in Westwood, Massachusetts

By
Victoria D
Digital Producer, CBS Boston
Victoria D. is a digital producer for CBS Boston. Before joining CBS Boston in 2023, Victoria had already worked in journalism in both New York and Boston for more than 10 years.
Read Full Bio
Victoria D

/ CBS Boston

A bus carrying members of the UMass Lowell Marching Band caught fire in Westwood, Massachusetts Sunday while they were en route to a show in Norwood.

It happened on High Street in Westwood. A spokesman for the school said the students were traveling to a band show at Norwood High School when one of them noticed a "noxious" smell and saw smoke and flames. 

Video from the scene showed heavy smoke in the air while fire trucks and other first responders were on the scene.

bys-1.jpg
Flames tear through a bus carrying members of the UMass Lowell band. Westwood Firefighters Local 1994

About 50 students, most from the band's percussion section, were on the bus at the time. The school said everyone got off the bus safely and no one was hurt.

Westwood Firefighters Local 1994 said that crews were able to salvage thousands of dollars worth of band equipment that was being stored under the bus. The firefighters union said almost all of the equipment was saved.

Photos from the scene show the bus was almost completely destroyed by the fire.

4-1.jpg
The aftermath of a bus fire involving members of the UMass Lowell band. Westwood Firefighters Local 1994

The school said a second bus carrying students and a truck carrying band equipment arrived at the school without any incident. The band ended up performing at the show, "reflecting the wishes of the students." The show was hosted by the Massachusetts Instrumental and Choral Conductors Association.

The band's next performance is in Quincy on Oct. 26.

It's unknown what caused the fire.

Westwood is located in Norfolk County and neighbors Norwood, where the performance took place. Westwood is about 30 minutes southwest of Boston.

In:

© 2025 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
const link = doc.createElement('link'); link.rel = 'stylesheet'; link.href = '/fly/fly/bundles/cbsnewscontent/css/cmp-banner.min.css?v=50747257b890e014813016b79ece0fb2'; doc.head.appendChild(link); doc.body.innerHTML = CONSENT_MESSAGE; } else { el.insertAdjacentHTML('afterend', CONSENT_MESSAGE); } }); } function hidePrivacyMessage() { // Remove from the main document document.querySelectorAll(`.${CONSENT_MESSAGE_CLASS}`).forEach(el => el.remove()); // Remove from inside any iframes document.querySelectorAll('iframe').forEach(iframe => { const doc = iframe.contentDocument || iframe.contentWindow.document; doc.querySelectorAll(`.${CONSENT_MESSAGE_CLASS}`).forEach(el => el.remove()); }); } function activateGatedScripts() { // Handle both new format (cmp-gated-script) and old OneTrust/Ketch format (optanon-category-4) const gatedScripts = Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('script.cmp-gated-script, script.optanon-category-4')); // Activate scripts sequentially with a small delay to avoid timing issues let delay = 0; gatedScripts.forEach(function(placeholder, index) { setTimeout(function() { // Skip if already processed if (placeholder.hasAttribute('data-cmp-processed')) { return; } placeholder.setAttribute('data-cmp-processed', 'true'); const newScript = document.createElement('script'); newScript.type = 'text/javascript'; // Try new format first (data-cmp-src), then fall back to old format (data-src) const src = placeholder.getAttribute('data-cmp-src') || placeholder.getAttribute('data-src'); if (src) { newScript.src = src; } else if (placeholder.textContent) { // Inline script - just copy the content newScript.textContent = placeholder.textContent; } // Handle new format attributes (data-cmp-attrs) - for both inline and external scripts const attrs = placeholder.getAttribute('data-cmp-attrs'); if (attrs) { const tempDiv = document.createElement('div'); tempDiv.innerHTML = '
<\/div>'; const tempAttrs = tempDiv.firstChild.attributes; for (let i = 0; i < tempAttrs.length; i++) { // For external scripts, allow defer/async. For inline scripts, skip them (not valid) if (src || (tempAttrs[i].name !== 'async' && tempAttrs[i].name !== 'defer')) { newScript.setAttribute(tempAttrs[i].name, tempAttrs[i].value); } } } // Copy other attributes from old OneTrust format for (let i = 0; i < placeholder.attributes.length; i++) { const attr = placeholder.attributes[i]; // Skip attributes we've already handled or don't want to copy if (!['class', 'data-src', 'data-type', 'data-cmp-src', 'data-cmp-attrs', 'data-cmp-processed', 'type', 'async', 'defer', 'src'].includes(attr.name)) { newScript.setAttribute(attr.name, attr.value); } } placeholder.parentNode.replaceChild(newScript, placeholder); // If external script, manually trigger window.onload handlers after it loads // This handles widgets that use window.onload for initialization if (src) { newScript.addEventListener('load', function() { // If page already loaded and script set a new onload handler, trigger it if (document.readyState === 'complete' && window.onload) { const originalOnload = window.onload; window.onload = null; // Clear temporarily to prevent loops originalOnload(); // Execute the handler } }); } }, delay); delay += 500; // 500ms delay between each script to allow full loading }); } cbsoptanon.onScriptsReady(function(cmp) { cmp.ot.targetingAllowed(function(allowed) { if (!allowed) { showPrivacyMessage(); } else { activateGatedScripts(); } }); cmp.ot.awaitInitialConsent(function(consent_model) { cmp.ot.addOnConsentChangedHandler(function() { cmp.ot.targetingAllowed(function(allowed) { if (allowed) { hidePrivacyMessage(); activateGatedScripts(); } else { showPrivacyMessage(); } }); }); }); });