Girl faces arson charges after U.S. team’s bus torched near Goldeyes ballpark

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 a male bystander saw the suspect on the burning bus and pulled her out.

“Why this stands out and seems so alarming is just because, if you did see the photos, and the fact that the bus was completely destroyed right down to the studs, you just think potentially what could have happened if somebody — if she — was stuck in there,” police spokeswoman Const. Dani McKinnon said.

“I don’t know that she necessarily appeared in duress, but he was very proactive. I understand he started smashing out the windows with a shovel, and then she was at the front door and he assisted her.”

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., west of Chicago.

The bystander happened to be in the area when the fire began.

“He certainly did his due diligence and went beyond what a normal citizen, I think, would do,” McKinnon said.

The bus was engulfed in flames when general patrol officers arrived a short time later.

“He certainly did his due diligence and went beyond what a normal citizen, I think, would do.”

The girl is facing charges of arson and possession of incendiary material. Police believe alcohol may have been involved. She was released on an undertaking and turned over to a responsible adult. A second teen who was taken into custody is not facing charges.

Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service crews extinguished the blaze. No injuries were reported.

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 US$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, were in Winnipeg for a three-game series against the Goldeyes, which concluded Thursday afternoon with a 12-5 victory for the visitors.

Curtis Haug, the Cougars’ vice-president and general manager, said team staff were putting together a list of baseball gear or personal belongings that were on the bus and lost in the fire. No passports were on board, he noted.

“We’ve never had a bus set on fire.”

“It was pretty much disbelief,” he said of the moment he learned of the fire. “You hope and pray nobody was injured, which was the case, and then you’ve got to think of new ways of transporting the club from Winnipeg to Fargo for our next series.”

The team has never had any issues in Winnipeg previously, Haug said from Geneva, Ill.

After transporting the club to a 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.

“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.

Haug thanked the Goldeyes and the team’s general manager, Andrew Collier, for arranging a Beaver Bus Lines bus and driver on short notice to transport Cougars players and staff 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 series concludes on Sunday afternoon.

“A very unfortunate incident,” Collier said of the fire. “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.

Haug said a Goldeyes fan called him Thursday to apologize for the deliberately set fire.

“She is a big Goldeyes fan, and she felt horrible that this happened,” he said.

— with files from Mike McIntyre

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca