CEO praises safety procedures after Calliope emergency

Driver's actions described as "exemplary” by Greyhound CEO.

Greyhound Australia is rolling out USB chargers and wi-fi connectivity in all of its coaches running between Toowoomba and Brisbane.Photo Contributed. Picture: Contributed

GREYHOUND Australia CEO Alex de Waal has praised his company's safety procedures after the evacuation of 16 people from a burning bus on the Bruce Highway in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The coach was travelling Southbound towards Brisbane when the driver noticed a loss in power near Calliope, before the bus was eventually engulfed and destroyed by flames.

The driver and passengers have been widely praised for their actions in evacuating the bus resulting in no injuries.

Mr de Waal said the company prepares for worst case scenarios, praising his whole team for the way they dealt with the emergency.

"(Our driver) alerted our operations controller, pulled over and was concerned about some smoke so he initiated our emergency evacuation procedures," he said.

"We plan for the worst situation which fortunately happens very rarely, but when it does happen... our drivers are well equipped to deal with any emergency of this nature.

"The driver has been exemplary in the way he's dealt with the issue, as has our operations control team."

Emergency services responded to the blaze around 3.30am, with the Bruce Highway blocked in both directions while the fire was extinguished.

A replacement coach arrived minutes later to transport the passengers resulting in a 90-minute delay, with no loss of baggage.

Mr De Waal said he was simply pleased all the passengers were safe and well.

"We're constantly trying to improve our safety procedures wherever we can and our new fleet all have emergency automatic fire suppression units," he said.

"When something like this happens in one of our newer coaches then the fire is extinguished immediately.

"I'm really pleased that under the circumstances this morning that everyone did their job and the guests only suffered a little bit of inconvenience and could continue on their journey."