School buses damaged after fire in vacant Gresham building spreads to lot next door

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A massive fire in Chicago's Gresham neighborhood Tuesday night has left several school buses damaged.

The fire broke out inside of an abandoned building in the 8500-block of South Vincennes Avenue and the roof collapsed while crews tried to extinguish flames. Materials inside the building prompted a HazMat response.

Just steps away in the next lot is Sunrise Transportation and several school buses were damaged by flames that traveled into the lot.

The Chicago Fire Department said Sunrise Transportation was just using the parking lot to park the buses and not the building.

Crews said the buses were damaged by flames, but said the buses never caught fire. The company's CEO says they will be up and running as usual, servicing CPS schools.

Aaron Medina, CEO of Sunrise Transportation, said in a statement, "A fire broke out at a building adjacent to our Vincennes bus yard late Tuesday night and approximately three or four buses were damaged. We are doing our best to minimize disruption to this morning's school pickup schedule, but some very minor delays are possible. CPS has been notified. We would like to thank the brave men and women of the Chicago fire and police departments who not only successfully put out the fire quickly but also worked with us through the night so we were able to safely transport children to school this morning."

No injuries have been reported.