What to Know
- There were 24 children on the school bus when something exploded and it started getting smoky
- The bus driver quickly evacuated the children, just before the bus became engulfed in flames
- It was the second time that model of school bus had caught fire in Mobile County, and all the region's school buses are that make
The quick actions of an Alabama school bus driver are being praised after 24 students escaped from a burning bus unharmed.
Cellphone video shows thick smoke and flames billowing out of the school bus before the vehicle's tires explode.
Two dozen middle school students were on board when the fire began.
One student said the driver acted fast when he was alerted to the emergency. The children were quickly ushered off the back of the bus, instead of the front. They said as soon as they got off they started seeing smoke pour from the bus, soon followed by fire and the front wheels exploding.
Almost two years ago, another Mobile County school bus went up in flames with kids scrambling to get off.
Mobile County School's Transportation Director Pat Mitchell has confirmed the bus involved Monday was the same model of bus involved in the previous fire.
Local
"We'll conduct a thorough investigation to determine what caused this bus fire," Mitchell pledged.
