Students' buses burn in hotel parking lot

ARLINGTON, Va., May 23 (UPI) -- Lamers Bus Lines Inc. said Friday three buses carrying Kenosha, Wis., middle school students were destroyed by a fire in an Arlington Va., hotel parking lot.

Lamers' Milwaukee General Manager Dean Brown said the buses caught fire early Friday while about 300 students, chaperones and teachers from Kenosha's Washington Middle School were inside the hotel sleeping, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Friday.

Brown said three other buses being used by the Washington-bound school group were moved before the fire could spread to them. He said a preliminary investigation into the blaze indicates the flames may have ignited after fuel leaked onto the heaters of one of the vehicles.

He said that despite the fire, the students are expected to return to their hometown on time Saturday.