By that time, the fire jumped over to our property,” Sanchez said. So they had to call the city and open everything up, and there was a long delay. “They probably would have been able to save my yard, but some of the fire hydrants were closed off in the street or had no water pressure. They had to wait about 20 minutes for the city to fix the issue, he said. He learned that water pressure efforts hampered firefighters’ efforts to put out the massive blaze. Only 12 of TLC Luxury Transportation’s fleet survived the fire. Sanchez is relieved no one died in the blaze. The fire consumed five businesses including two pallet yards and a mattress company, causing millions in damages.
While authorities haven’t determined the cause of the fire that started in a pallet yard, early reports indicate it might be tied to a homeless encampment in a nearby alley. Any little thing that we can do to be supportive, we’re really happy to do,” Bowman said. “These are such unprecedented times that CBA wanted to really rally around the California motorcoach industry and support them because this is over and above what they’re already going through. Vicki Bowman, CBA’s executive director, said the organization wanted to do something to help the operators even though they aren’t members. The California Bus Association also launched an online fundraiser, seeding it with $1,000. In the meantime, he launched an online fundraiser to help cover immediate costs. “I am devastated beyond words and still in shock,” said Sanchez, who is still sorting out what insurance will cover. He estimates business was down 95%, but demand for his buses was starting to return when tragedy struck. Like most in the industry, his business has struggled during the past year due to the pandemic. My school buses were operating, and we were doing small tours when then the fire happened.” “We were starting to see some signs of activity here in California. “2019 was a really really good year for us, and then 2020 hits,” said Sanchez. TLC Luxury, which does business as TLC Luxury Transportation, owns the bus yard. Pre-pandemic, Sanchez had a workforce of 50 employees.
His company, TLC Luxury, which does business as TLC Luxury Transportation, is a small, family-owned business that provides luxury charter bus and school bus services. The others are owner-operators Rabbit Express Shuttle, with one bus, and Luizen Tours USA, with two buses. One is Aju Tours, a Korean operator with eight buses and a Sprinter van that mostly does tours. Sanchez leases parking spaces to three other companies. He doesn’t expect to replace the vehicles until the end of the year. They were being used for military runs, a weekly tour and moving special needs students for a local school district. Most of the fleet had been grounded, but a few of the buses were active. He lost eight motorcoaches - a Prevost, an MCI and six Temsas - along with two of his wheelchair lift-equipped school buses from Thomas Built Buses. He lost 10 vehicles, nearly half of his fleet. An early-morning fire consumed a block of businesses - including Sanchez’s - and homes in Compton, near South Central Los Angeles, before it was contained.
26 to his phone blowing up with calls from family and friends, alerting him that his bus yard was on the news. Operator Chris Sanchez says he awoke the morning of Feb. Four Southern California operators are figuring out what’s next after collectively losing 21 buses in a massive blaze.
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