After the bus she was driving suddenly caught fire on Monday afternoon, a Maryland school bus driver has been hailed as a hero for her selfless bravery. The driver, Reneita Smith, was able to safely get each and every student off the bus and away from the life-threatening situation.
The fire was first reported to the authorities around 4:45 p.m. on Monday near the 9600 block of 51st Avenue in College Park, according to WTVR. The cause of the blaze has yet to be identified and remains under investigation.
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The frightening footage in the video above was captured by a firefighter’s dashboard camera. Smoke and flames erupted on the bus, and luckily everyone had already escaped.
As the bus was burning, one parent named Fazlul Kabir recalled Smith saying: “I am a mom of two kids. It’s my job to save them.”
Fazlul Kabir shared photos on Facebook of Smith and the destroyed school bus with the caption: “A big THANK YOU to our school bus driver Reneita Smith who just saved 20 elementary school kids from a bus fire that completely destroyed the bus. 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. ‘I am a mom of two kids. It’s my job to save them,’ she told me. The bus caught fire on 51st ave near Hollywood road about an hour ago. Thankfully, all the school kids went home safe.”
We commend bus driver Reneita Smith for her bravery in this potentially tragic incident.
[H/T WTVR]
