BLYTHEWOOD, South Carolina — A bus carrying a group of kindergartners broke down and caught fire Monday. None of the students aboard were hurt.
The bus was traveling from Windsor Elementary School in the Richland Two School District to Camp Discovery.
Larry Johnson, who was a chaperone on the bus spoke to News 19 about what he saw, explaining that the bus driver noticed the smoke on the bus and pulled over to a gas station.
"So when the bus stopped, the teacher automatically opened this exit door, one opened one from the back and the kids did perfect," says Johnson. "They knew exactly what to do. I jumped off the side and when I jumped off, another teacher jumped off the back. I was taking kids off from the side, just getting kids off quickly and the other teacher was getting them off at the back and the others were getting off towards the front."
Johnson says the bus driver returned to the bus to turn it off, when the engine began to catch on fire and she fell out of the bus. That's when he went to help her up before the entire front of the bus became engulfed in flames.
He says he was shocked, but pleased to see how well the students got off of the bus after practicing the bus fire drill twice that school year.
"I said well, to say that was only twice, the kids and you guys did perfect."
The school bus is 16 years old and is a part of the 2003 Freightliner fleet. The South Carolina Department of Education released a statement saying that they will be conducting a full investigation to determine what happened.
"Specific, re-occurring mechanical issues on other makes and models of school buses such as this one are rare. Many mechanical failures are usually due to normal wear and tear but we are conducting a full investigation of this bus to determine what happened and will be happy to share that when complete."
Johnson says while he was glad he was able to help, he's concerned about this happening in the future when there aren't chaperone's and teachers to help.
"You can never have too much practice, especially with an incident like this."