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WEST VALLEY CITY — A former bus driver for the Granite School District accused of lighting multiple fires on school buses — including at least one while children were on board — is now facing criminal charges.
Michael Austin Ford, 58, was charged Thursday in 3rd District Court with 10 counts of aggravated arson, a first-degree felony; aggravated child abuse, arson and obstructing justice, second-degree felonies; and property damage, a class B misdemeanor.
On Feb. 24, 2022, Ford was driving a Granite School District bus with 66 children on board when video surveillance from the bus "shows smoke coming from under the bus dash while Ford continues to drive. The students reported smelling smoke, and multiple students are visibly covering their faces and coughing. Ford then stops the bus and evacuates the minors. He then extinguishes the fire with a fire extinguisher. One minor reports being treated for smoke inhalation," according to charging documents.
On April 7, the State Fire Marhsal's Office investigated another fire involving a bus that Ford was driving.
"Review of the video surveillance shows the bus driver, identified as Ford, with a thumb-strike lighter in his left hand. When the traffic stops, Ford looks down and starts lighting the electrical components under the dashboard on fire with the lighter. Ford continues driving the bus, looking down several times at the smoke and intermittently visible flames. A few minutes later the fire is extinguished," the charges state.
The manager for the school district's bus fleet told investigators that Ford had "disabled his bus' video surveillance system or had issues with the system several times" in the past, which raised the district's suspicions. Because of that, the video surveillance on the bus was altered by maintenance crews "to continue recording even when the system was manually turned off. This repair led to the video surveillance of this incident."
Prosecutors say not only is Ford responsible for the two bus fires for which criminal charges were filed, "but two additional times he was the bus driver when fires started on buses. All of the fires originated under the dash of the bus."
On Jan. 27, 2017, a Granite School District bus became partially engulfed in flames in the Holladay area. No students were on board. At the time, the cause of the fire was thought to be mechanical. Unified police confirmed that Ford was driving that bus.
"Additionally, fires have occurred at two of Ford's residences and one of his vehicles. The fires at Ford's residence cannot be a mere coincidence," prosecutors stated in charging documents.
Ford, who had been driving for the district since 1998, was fired earlier this year after the investigation in April began. He was arrested last week.
