A New Orleans, Louisiana, school bus driver is being recognized after safely evacuating nine students after a fire started during a route, reported WDBJ 7.
Community Academies of New Orleans school bus driver Kia Rousseve was reportedly making her fifth stop of the day on March 13, when she noticed smoke and pulled over.
One of her students, a little girl, then told her the bus was on fire under the floor.
Rousseve said she quickly ushered the students from kindergarten through the eighth grade off the bus and was able to use the front loading door instead of the rear emergency exit. She turned the bus off and made one final pass through the bus to make sure all students had exited. Then, the school bus blew up.
Rousseve, who has been a bus driver for three years, stated she was thinking about her own child as she saved the students on her bus. She said she believes a faulty alternator is to blame for the fire. However, the exact cause of the incident remains unclear.
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