27 March 2007
Police in Spring Valley, in the US state of New York, discovered a full-size school bus that had been converted into an oven, complete with smokestack, exhaust fans and open fire, after a neighbor said he had smelled smoke, the AP news agency reports. The bus, in the backyard of a residence owned by a local ultra-Orthodox Jewish congregation, was producing unleavened matzo bread for the Passover holiday, which begins next Monday, a local police officer told the news agency. "It was up and running. Smoke was coming from the stack and there was a working fire." The officer added that the fire was fueled by gas from lines illegally extended from the house. None of the necessary permits had been obtained. He said the bus oven may have been in use for two or three years, but possibly just seasonally. "The back door, the emergency door I guess you'd call it, that was the oven door," he said. "All the seats had been removed and the whole inside was an oven." No charges were filed or tickets issued, the sergeant said, but the matter was referred to the local fire and building departments for violations.
