Good morning and welcome.

I am Kitty Higgins, a Member of the National Transportation Safety Board and Chairman of this Board of Inquiry. The National Transportation Safety Board is an independent Federal agency charged by Congress to investigate accidents in all modes of transportation, and to provide independent oversight of government and private entities involved in transportation.

Today, we begin a 2-day hearing to consider the facts and circumstances surrounding a fire on a motorcoach near Wilmer, Texas, on September 23, 2005, in which 23 residents of an assisted living facility died during an evacuation in advance of landfall by Hurricane Rita. The purpose of this hearing is to learn additional facts, conditions, and circumstances to supplement information the Safety Board uncovered during its on-scene investigation in September 2005.

I want to thank each of you for attending this important hearing. The traveling public relies on the government to keep a watchful eye on the safety of our commercial vehicle transportation system, and today’s hearing is a demonstration of our commitment to do just that.

I understand that many family members are watching this hearing by webcast, and, on behalf of the Safety Board, I offer my condolences to the families whose loved ones died or were injured that day. We can not change what happened, but this hearing will help the Safety Board determine what happened, and help us keep it from happening again.

Over the course of the next two days, we will focus on the following issues:

1. The facts and circumstances of the fire on the 54-passenger motorcoach traveling northbound on Interstate 45 in Texas with 44 passengers and a driver as part of the emergency evacuation in anticipation of Hurricane Rita;
2. The scope of bus fires in this country;
3. Motorcoach fire propagation and suppression; 
4. Motorcoach evacuations;
5. Planning for the transportation of passengers with special needs during emergency evacuations;
6. Government oversight of motorcoach operators, and bus brokers;
7. Vehicle inspections and driver training.

This hearings will assist the Safety Board in determining the probable cause of the accident and in issuing safety recommendations that may prevent similar accidents in the future. 

At this point, I would like to introduce the other members of the Safety Board staff.

Assisting me on the Board of Inquiry will be:

The Honorable Debbie Hersman, Member of the National Transportation Safety Board, and who will be part of the Board of Inquiry on the second day of the hearing;

Mr. Bruce Magladry, Acting Director of the Office of Highway Safety;
Dr. Vern Ellingstad, Director of the Office of Research & Engineering;
Mr. Bob Chipkevich, Director of Railroad, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Investigations on the first da; and, on the second day, Ms. Elaine Weinstein, Director of the Office of Safety Recommendations & Communications; and
Ms. Michele McMurtry, the Hearing Officer who is with the Office of Highway Safety.

The Board of Inquiry will be assisted by a Technical Panel, consisting of Board staff from the Offices of Highway Safety, Research & Engineering, and Safety Recommendations & Communications. Members of the Technical Panel are:

Mr. Gary Van Etten, Investigator-in-Charge, Office of Highway Safety;
Mr. Ron Kaminski, Survival Factors Group Chairman, Office of Highway Safety;
Ms.Paula Sind-Prunier (prune- year), Human Performance Group Chairman, Office of Highway Safety;
Mr. Larry Yohe, Vehicle Factors Group Chairman, Office of Highway Safety;
Mr. Joe Panagiotou (Pana-­ yo-to), Fire and Explosion Investigator, Office of Research and Engineering;
Ms. Michele Beckjord, Project Manager, Office of Highway Safety;
Mr. Pete Kotowski, Motor Carrier Group Chairman, Office of Highway Safety;
Ms. Julie Perrot (Per- o), Transportation Safety Specialist for Highway, Office of Safety Recommendations and Communications.

Other Safety Board staff members assisting with this hearing are:

Mr. Gary Halbert, NTSB General Counsel;
Ms. Mary Jones from the Office of Highway Safety who will be assisting with administrative matters for this hearing.
Mr. Keith Holloway, Office of Public Affairs;
Ms. Denise Daniels, my special assistant.

In accordance with the Safety Board's procedural rules governing public hearings, the designated parties to a public hearing include those persons, governmental agencies, companies, and associations whose participation in the hearing is deemed necessary in the public interest and whose special knowledge will contribute to the development of pertinent evidence.  There are 9 such designated parties in attendance today, and I will introduce the parties and their spokespersons for the record: 

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration – Ms. Rose McMurry, Associate Administrator for Policy and Program Development;
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration – Mr. Ron Medford, Senior Associate Administrator, Vehicle Safety;
Texas Department of Public Safety – Captain David Palmer;
MCI (the bus manufacturer) – Mr. Paul Murphy, Director of Regulatory Compliance;
ArvinMeritor Corporation (the brake manufacturer) – Mr. Paul Johnston, Sr, Professional Engineer, Director, North American Foundation Brake Business Unit;
Bridgestone/Firestone (the tire manufacturer) – Mr. Brian Queiser (Kwee-zer), Manager, Product Analysis Department;
Sunrise Senior Living – Mr. Richard Schlott, Vice President of Regional Operations;
United Motorcoach Association (UMA) – Mr. Ken Presely, VP for Industry Relations;
American Bus Association (ABA) – Mr. Norm Littler, Executive Director, Bus Industry Safety Council.

A Safety Board public hearing is a fact-gathering exercise. We will spend our time examining current safety problems and studying possible solutions. The Safety Board will use information from this public hearing to develop possible recommendations and the final report as part of our investigation of this accident and the bus fire problem.

Witnesses have been named who will serve on panels devoted to specific topic areas. The witnesses testifying at this hearing will be introduced when they begin their testimony.  They have been selected because of their ability to provide the best available information on the issues.  The technical panel will question the witnesses first. I will then call upon each party spokesperson who may question the witnesses. We will conclude with questions from each member of the Board of Inquiry. Hard copies of the witness and exhibit list, and electronic copies of items already in the docket, are available from Keith Holloway in the press room. 

I will permit a second round of questions if the record needs to be clarified or if some new matter has been raised and requires further exploration.  If one of the parties would like a second round of questions, the designated spokesperson should make the request and state the reason for the request.  I would expect the second round of questions to be very brief with no repetition of previous questions. 

A witness who has finished testifying may be subject to recall should the need arise. Therefore, witnesses should not leave the hearing without first checking with the Investigator in Charge or the Hearing Officer about the likelihood of being recalled for additional questioning.

This hearing is not adversarial; there will be no adverse parties or interests, no formal pleadings or cross-examination. The Safety Board will not determine liability, and questions directed to issues of liability will not be permitted.  As Chairman of the Board of Inquiry, I will make all rulings on the admissibility of evidence, and my rulings will be final.  I request that all parties and the Technical Panel refrain from asking questions that:

1. Are narrative-type questions, that is, more in the nature of testimony than a question;
2. Are beyond the scope of the issues agreed upon;
3. Are repetitive;
4. Are irrelevant, immaterial, or argumentative.

We have a lot of ground to cover in the next 2 days. I expect the questions from the parties to be short and crisp.

During this hearing, we will not attempt to determine the probable cause of the accident.  Such analyses and determinations will be adopted later by the full Safety Board after all of the evidence gathered from our investigation is discussed during a public meeting known as a “sunshine” meeting.  At that time, the Safety Board will consider the evidence, review the analyses and determine probable cause in a final report.

Following the hearing, the parties are invited to submit comments to the Safety Board regarding the conclusions they believe should be drawn from the evidence and what preventive measures should be taken.  Please submit 15 copies of your comments to the Safety Board within 30 calendar days after receipt of a transcript of the hearing.  Please also submit one copy of your comments to each of the other parties to the hearing, as well as to parties to the field phase of the investigation.  All comments received by the Safety Board will be made part of the public docket of the investigation.

A transcript of the public hearing and all exhibits entered into the record will become part of the public record in the Safety Board’s Washington, D.C., office and will be available for inspection at the Safety Board's office in Washington, D.C.  Anyone wanting to purchase the transcript, including the parties to this hearing, should contact the court reporter directly.   In addition, the Safety Board’s highway reports are published on our website: http://www.ntsb.gov.

I would like to use this opportunity to publicly thank all of the parties for their cooperation and support, and for their willingness to work with us in the investigation of this accident. According to a government report, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita killed more than 1,300 people, caused more than $80 billion in damage over 90,000 square miles, and forced mass evacuations from five Gulf Coast States. Bus and motorcoach transportation will be an important component of our emergency planning for the 2006 hurricane season. I believe this public hearing will yield important information that will help the Safety Board craft recommendations to improve the safety of transportation using these vehicles.

We will begin the hearing with a statement from the Investigator-in-Charge of the accident investigation, Mr. Gary Van Etten, who will summarize certain facts about the accident and the investigative activities that have taken place.  Mr. Van Etten, will you please come forward and take the witness stand?