Saginaw School District leaders are calling two of their employees heroes for their quick reaction to a bus fire last month.
School officials said the school bus was on North Fayette near Eleanor around 4 p.m. on Nov. 30 when bus driver Carrie Robinson saw smoke coming from under a seat near the middle of the bus where the heat unit is located, said Michael B. Manley, district spokesman.
The bus had nine Webber Elementary School students inside.
Robinson pulled the bus over and, along with bus rider Theresa Prince, removed all the students from the vehicle.
Minutes later the bus caught fire. It was a total loss.
“Buses can burn up in three to 18 minutes,” Manley said. “It was their fast reaction that possibly saved lives.”
Another bus transported the students home, he said.
The bus, a 2001 model, had just passed the annual state inspection, he said.
The cause of the fire was the heater fan unit shorting out, Manley said.
“This was just great work on their part to react so fast,” Manley said. “They knew what to do.”