Sanford, N.C. — Authorities are investigating a fire at the bus garage of Lee County Schools, where three buses were destroyed Thursday afternoon and two others were damaged.

There were no reports of injuries.

Jeffrey Moss, superintendent for Lee County Schools, said the fire started on one bus in the back of the parking lot, at 416 Cox Maddox Road, and spread to two other buses.

Moss said quick response by local firefighters and garage employees who moved buses away from the fire kept the situation from becoming worse.

"We are thankful that school is out and that we have time to bring in new buses and repair those we can," he said.

Witnesses said they heard explosions, which Moss said were tires from the first bus that caught fire.

"I heard a great big boom and it scared me, so I went to the door and looked out," said Donna Collins, who captured cellphone video of the blaze. "I saw black smoke rolling up around where the buses were."

"It was a really scary thing," she added. "We were thinking the whole thing was going to blow up."

Rick Morin also witnessed a lot of black smoke coming from the parking lot.

"(The smoke) probably went up 200 feet in the air," he said.

Authorities have contacted the State Bureau of Investigation to look into what caused the blaze.