Bert Kreischer is counting his blessings after experiencing a freak — and potentially deadly — accident on the road.
“We are all safe but my bus is gone – God works in mysterious ways,” Kreischer, 53, wrote via Instagram on Sunday, March 15, alongside a photo of his charred tour bus after the vehicle had burst into flames.
The picture came hours after the comedian posted a video of himself standing on the side of the road in the snow after the bus’ front right tire blew out. Kreischer shared a follow-up video via his Instagram Story to explain exactly what happened to the bus leading up to the fire.
“So Saturday night we left Fargo at around, like, 11, and about an hour outside Fargo we had a blowout on our tire,” he explained in the Monday, March 16, clip. “Front right tire just ripped totally off the rim. Both bus drivers said they had never seen anything like it in their 35 years. We waited for a couple hours, and then we ditched the bus.”
Kreischer and his team then split up into two other crew buses and continued their travels to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. A bus driver stayed behind with the original bus in between Fargo, North Dakota, and Cedar Rapids as he waited to get the tire fixed. That morning, the driver heard a peculiar sound coming from the roof before the bus was overcome with smoke. Just seconds later, it burst into flames as the driver narrowly escaped.
“Everyone’s fine; the bus driver, Dewey, he got out in time. He said literally the fire started within 15 seconds, and the whole front cabin was in flames,” Kreischer added. “Here’s the good thing to know: had we slept on that bus, we all would have been trapped in the back and we’d all be dead today. … It was a blessing that we had a blowout. It was a blessing. So today, as frustrated as you may get, realize everything is a blessing. God works in mysterious ways, and I’m heading home.”
The Free Bert star also spoke to People, assuring everyone that the situation with the tire was a “fluke accident.”
“We hit nothing, and it was no fault of the driver’s,” he told the outlet. “We waited outside for a couple hours.”
While everyone on Kreischer’s team is safe, they did lose their belongings in the fire. In another video shared via his Instagram Story on Sunday, Kreischer and his crew drove past the scene of the blaze as they spoke about some of the items they had left behind on the original bus.
“We had so much meat and cheese in there,” Kreischer said as Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” played in the background. “We’re going through all the stuff that’s in the bus. We left cheese on the f***ing counter. You know that’s melted everywhere. We’re all safe. If anyone’s wondering, we’re all safe.”
Kreischer and his crew then drove to Dick’s Sporting Goods to buy clothes. He also shared a photo of firefighters tending to the blaze along with another look at the demolished front of the bus on Monday.
“Me, the other comedians, my assistant and my trainer are all very lucky,” Kreischer told People. “The Lord works in mysterious ways.”
He continued, ”As annoyed as we were to blow out a tire on a highway in a snowstorm in the middle of nowhere, we are all counting our blessings today that we weren’t on the bus when the fire broke out.”
