Former Vernon Lakers Captain Involved In Bus Fire:

Former Vernon Lakers captain, Bruce Ramsay was involved in a bus fire ealier this month. Ramsay who enters his second season with the CHL Tulsa Oilers as the teams head coach, was riding the Oilers team bus that caught fire, that was heading to Independence, Mo., for a game against the Missouri Mavericks. Ramsay played just one season in Vernon helping the 1989-90 Vernon Lakers win their first Centennial Cup in a thrilling 6-5 overtime win over the highly favorite New Westminster Royals. Ramsay was named the Oilers head coach back in May 2009. Ramsay comes to the Oilers after the past three seasons coaching the Muskegon Fury of the International Hockey League where he had nearly a .600 winning percentage (127-82-19). He brings a wealth of championship experience, having won 10 championships as a player, and he also is familiar with the Central Hockey League, having played for the Wichita Thunder in the 2000-01. Ramsay joins the Oilers fresh off a trip to the Turner Cup final in the IHL.

Here is the article that was posted on the Tulsa World Sports website:

Tulsa Oilers' game delayed an hour after bus fire

By JARREL WADE AND JERRY WOFFORD World Staff Writers

Published: 11/5/2010

Firefighters fought a vehicle and grass fire after the Tulsa Oilers’ bus caught fire near Claremore on the Will Rogers Turnpike.

Steve McCall, the Oilers’ media relations director, said the hockey team smelled smoke on the bus about 11:30 a.m. and the eastbound bus pulled over on Interstate 44 about two miles east of the Claremore-Pryor exit.

Two drivers, 19 players and four support people all got off the bus without injury as the engine caught fire, McCall said.

The engine fire then started a grass fire, and both blazes were still burning about 12:30 p.m., with the bus fully engulfed, he said.

“Even now I see flames shooting out of the bus,” McCall said from the scene Friday afternoon.

The team was headed to Independence, Mo., for a game against the Missouri Mavericks, he said. The game, scheduled for 7:05 p.m., was postponed about an hour Friday, according to officials at the Independence Events Center, where the game is being held.

Drivers were able to remove a trailer carrying the team’s equipment before the fire consumed the bus, McCall said.

However, some of the broadcasting equipment the team takes to games was damaged in the fire, he said.

Verdigris and Claremore firefighters fought the fire.

McCall described the grass fire as “pretty significant.”