A typical school bus route in New Orleans was interrupted when a bus driver felt her spidey senses tingling and immediately de-boarded every student onto the sidewalk. Little did she know, she saved all the riders from a complete disaster.
Kia Rousseve, 28, told WVUE News she’s been driving school buses for Community Academics of New Orleans for three years. Last Wednesday morning, she experienced something she never did before.
On her way to her fifth stop through the Central City area of New Orleans, one of the eight young children walked down the aisle to let her know she saw a fire underneath the bus. Suddenly the bus began to lose power and she saw smoke emerge from the front of the bus across the windshield. She said her instincts led her to immediately pull the vehicle over on Josephine Street and hurried to get the children escorted off the bus.
She said she turned it off, grabbed her purse and called her supervisor to report the concern.
However, seconds after she stepped off the few platform steps, the bus exploded and becoming engulfed in flames, swallowing the inside of the bus where she was just sitting moments prior.
“I turned the bus off and got off. When I got off, the bus blew up. All I heard was boom, boom, boom. I was like oh my God, the bus blew up,” she told reporters.
Rousseve said all she think about was her own child as she led the kids off of the bus, feeling relieved she was able to save them from becoming the victims of another freak accident. She told reporters she believed the fire sparked from the alternator.
CANO akcnowledged her bravery in a statement.
“Her ability to stay calm in the face of danger, ensuring not a single child came to harm is nothing short of heroic. It’s a poignant reminder of the crucial role bus drivers play in our children’s lives, often going unnoticed until a moment of crisis thrusts hem into the spotlight,” the statement read, via Nola.com.
Despite being proud of herself for saving the day, she told Nola,com she’d been having trouble sleeping since the incident and is hesitant to go behind the wheel again. After seeing the images of her charred driver’s seat…it is understandable why.
Nonetheless if Rousseve’s story teaches you anything, sometimes listening to your gut feeling is a matter of life and death.