CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Republican gubernatorial nominee Winsome Earle-Sears’s campaign bus caught fire Thursday afternoon as it traveled between stops, Earle-Sears confirmed.

“While enroute to an event, our campaign bus caught fire,” Earle-Sears shared in a social media post. “Everyone is safe. Thank you to the first responders who got to the scene quickly — we are so grateful for you.”

The bus driver was the only one on the bus at the time of the blaze, a source told Cville Right Now. He was on his way to meet Earle-Sears and other candidates, including lieutenant governor nominee John Reid, at a campaign event in Harrisonburg.

“The fire appears to have started in the engine compartment (at the) back of the bus,” Capt. Kevin Freid of the Greene County Sheriff’s Office told Cville Right Now. “As to what caused it, I can’t answer that.”

Images posted online show the back end of the bus fully engulfed in flames on Route 33, west of the Greene County and Rockingham County line.

Earle-Sears appeared in Fredericksburg on Thursday morning and was scheduled to be in Harrisonburg on Thursday afternoon, part of the GOP’s “Commonsense, Not Nonsense” tour, according to her campaign schedule.

Earle-Sears trails Democratic nominee Abigail Spanberger by 10 points, according to the latest Roanoke College poll, released Thursday.

“I’m relieved to hear (Earle-Sears) and her team are safe after her campaign bus caught on fire this afternoon,” Spanberger posted on social media. “I’m grateful to our first responders for their quick action — and I’m thinking of the Lt. Governor and her team after this scary incident.”