Bus Driver Helps 20 Children To Safety After Bus Catches On Fire

A school bus is supposed to be a safe way to transport your children to and from school. So, the last thing you’re thinking about as you watch the children pile into the big yellow vehicle is: “What if it were to catch on fire?”

Thankfully, when a school bus in College Park, Maryland caught fire while carrying 20 elementary school children, bus driver Reneita Smith was there to save the day. According to NewsNet5, Smith was able to safely evacuate all of the children from the bus.

“As I’m driving that bus, they’re my babies,” Smith said. “I’m their mom until I drop them off to their biological moms.”

The fire started over the rear wheel of the bus, and the fire department is not sure of the cause.

“I ran back onto the bus to make sure that every seat was clear,” Smith said. And thank goodness she did.

A few neighbors also saw the incident, and one posted about Smith’s courage to Facebook.

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“Not only Reneita took each one of the 20 kids from the bus one by one, but also went into the empty bus again to check if everyone was out, while it was still burning,” the post read.

But to her, it wasn’t some heroic act. “I have people calling me a hero, and I say that I’m just a mom,” she said.

Clearly, Smith takes her job as a mom and as a bus driver seriously, and I’m sure all of the parents of the children on that bus are grateful that she does. For Smith, this was just something that had to be done. All in a day’s work, I suppose.