Ron Kitts, 61, has been driving special needs students to Shaw Road Elementary and Spinning Elementary schools near Tacoma, Washington for about six months, the News Tribune reported. So he knows the kids on his bus well.
When his bus burst into flames on the way to school, his relationship with his students helped eight special needs students work together to get to safety.
“It was so scary,” he said. “And it happened fast.”
Just after picking up the last student on his route, Kitts noticed something wrong with the bus.
“The bus started acting a little bit funny,” he said. “I thought I had left my emergency brake on or something.”
He stopped the bus, opened the door and saw flames around the right front wheel. That’s when he knew he needed to get the kids out.
From the time he noticed smoke to when everyone was off the bus took less than three minutes, he said.
“They did extremely good,” he said.
