SALT LAKE CITY — A school bus driver for the Granite School District was arrested Monday for allegedly lighting multiple buses on fire, with one incident leading to students evacuating.
Michael Ford, 58, was arrested for aggravated arson, a first-degree felony, aggravated child abuse and criminal mischief.
The Granite School District said in a statement that Ford was placed on leave and later fired by the district following the allegations.
"In April of 2023, Mr. Ford was placed on leave after evidence surfaced that he was involved with the tampering of a bus," the statement reads. "That evidence was used by Granite District Police to arrest Mr. Ford on April 10, 2023, for arson. The investigation was then turned over to the State Fire Marshall’s office for further investigation. Mr. Ford was terminated by Granite District on June 5, 2023."
Arresting documents detail the incidents date back to February 2022.
With 66 children on board, video surveillance showed smoke coming from under the dashboard of the bus and Ford continuing to drive while smoke poured into the rest of the vehicle during the February incident, documents state.
Eventually, students reported smelling smoke and even were seen via video surveillance coughing and covering their faces with shirts, court documents report.
Ford then stopped the bus and evacuated the students as he called the Granite School District to report the fire. Arresting documents then report Ford pulled out a fire extinguisher to put out the flames.
"Mr. Ford has been linked to a previous incident in February of 2022, when a bus he was driving with secondary students, started to have smoke in the dashboard area of the bus," a statement from the school district reads. "The bus was pulled over in the neighborhood and students were able to evacuate through the regular doors. There were no injuries and the bus was repaired and returned to service."
More than a year later, in April 2023, video surveillance caught Ford with a thumb strike lighter in his hand, lighting electrical components under the dashboard, documents state.
"The suspect continued driving the bus, looking down several times at smoke and intermittently visible flames," arresting information reads in part.
The fire was extinguished later when an airline under the dashboard ruptured.
Court documents state that in total, there were four bus fires related to the Granite School District, all of them involving Ford as the driver and being caused by electrical issues that started under the dash area.
"Given the nature of the four bus fires with the same driver with them all starting the same area of the bus...it is reasonable to conclude Michael Ford is responsible for these fires," documents state.
Further investigation revealed Ford was also involved in two other fires at his West Valley City home and two vehicle fires, one dating back to 2009.
Ford was arrested Monday and is being held without bail at the Salt Lake County Jail.
The district reported Ford had been a bus driver in various capacities in 1998 and was hired after passing appropriate background checks at the time.
