ATU HERO
Brother Ivan Gayvoronskie Local 1576-Everett, WA
O
ne very cold and foggy day last January in Everett, WA, Sound Transit bus operator Ivan Gayvoronskie was on his usual route driving commuters to Seattle when he noticed smoke coming from the back of his bus. Recognizing the danger, Ivan calmly and quickly pulled his bus over to a safe location and immediately evacuated the 70 passengers in an orderly fashion. One was in a wheelchair so Ivan recruited a couple passengers to help her off the bus. About 30 seconds later the back of the bus exploded in flames, The cold weather had caused the water in the brake lines to freeze and make the engine overheat which caused the tires to explode into flames. If it wasn’t for Ivan keeping a cool head and acting quickly many of his passengers could have been severely burned or even killed. One of the passengers praised Ivan, “That bus driver deserves some sort of recognition, because if
he hadn’t handled the situation the way he had, it would have been a lot worse.” We at ATU salute Brother Gayvoronskie for his heroism and quick action on the job.
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| July/August 2013
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