A School Bus In Florida Caught Fire, And The Bus Driver Acted Quickly To Save The Lives Of All 40 Children On Board
Janet O’Connell is a school bus driver for Imagine Schools at West Melbourne, which is a charter school that has children from pre-K all the way through 12th grade.
A few days ago on May 3rd, Janet was driving her school bus with 40 children on board when something terrifying happened.
Janet had only left the school 10 minutes before, and she noticed there was a lot of smoke coming up from underneath the hood of her school bus at approximately 3:30 that afternoon.
Janet wasted no time pulling the bus over in Palm City, Florida, and she hurried to get all of her children off the bus as it burst into flames.
Palm Bay Fire Rescue rushed to the scene of the blaze and later shared photos of the bus on fire as well as the aftermath.
Palm Bay Fire Rescue; pictured above is the bus on fire
“Shortly after 330 PM this afternoon, B-shift crews from Station 3 were dispatched to a school bus on fire,” Palm Bay Fire Rescue wrote in a Facebook post.
“Crews arrived to find it heavily involved with fire. Fortunately, all 40 kids and the driver had evacuated the bus. No injuries were reported.”
Due to Janet’s quick thinking, she saved the lives of all of the children riding with her that day.
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Brian DeGonzague, the Principal of Imagine Schools at West Melbourne, later talked to WKMG-TV about Janet’s heroic efforts.
Palm Bay Fire Rescue; pictured above is the bus after the blaze was extinguished
“When I spoke to her about it, she said, ‘Brian, I did what I did because I love my kids.’ She doesn’t want the spotlight on her, but what she did was pretty incredible,” Brian said to the news outlet.
Imagine Schools at West Melbourne also posted on Facebook to alert families about the situation, pointing out that the fire was due to an “electrical issue.”
“The bus did end up catching fire,” Imagine Schools at West Melbourne explained. “We are blessed that everyone is safe. This is due to the quick actions of our driver, Ms. Janet, and the students.”
“We are proud that our students showed how they are leaders of great character as they assisted one another.”
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