Fatal head-on crash with Chumash Casino bus sparks fire, closes lane on Hwy. 101
At least one person was killed and multiple people were injured early Friday morning when a wrong-way driver on Highway 101 hit a Chumash Casino bus head-on, sparked a fire and forced lane closures north of Los Alamos.
At approximately 3:15 a.m., Santa Barbara County Fire Department personnel, California Highway Patrol and American Medical Response responded to the crash on southbound Highway 101 south of Palmer Road.
Fire Capt. Mike Gray said a passenger vehicle traveling northbound in the southbound lanes had been involved in a head-on collision with a bus.
The vehicle became “fully engulfed in fire upon impact,” Gray said, adding the flames spread to the bus and adjacent brush in the center divider, causing lane closures on both sides of the highway.
“All passengers exited the bus and were positively accounted for before fire spread to the bus,” Gray said.
The wrong-way vehicle had an unknown number of occupants, Gray added.
Fourteen people on the bus sustained minor injuries and were transported by ground ambulances to local hospitals, Gray said.
The bus has ties to the Chumash Casino Resort, according to the CHP.
CHP officers from the Santa Maria area were investigating the circumstances surrounding the fatal crash, which left burned-out wreckage of both the bus and car on the side of the highway.
“Expect significant delays,” the CHP said on X.
Southbound lanes of Highway 101 were closed for a time after the crash, while northbound Highway 101 was reduced to one lane.
As of 11 a.m., one southbound lane remained closed, and law enforcement officers were provided traffic breaks to slow traffic due to the investigation, according to the CHP.
