A bus driver saved 38 children from a burning bus on Florida's Interstate 4 Wednesday morning, safely getting all of them off the vehicle before it was engulfed in flames.
Kristina Buhrman, who also works as a math teacher at Discovery Academy in Polk County, told the Florida Highway Patrol that she pulled over after she noticed smoke while driving the bus full of school-aged children along the freeway shortly after 7 a.m.
She quickly, but orderly, got the students off the school bus just before it suddenly
burst into flames, WESH-TV reported.
"This could have been pretty bad," FHP Sgt. Mary Godino told the television station. "We could have had a tragic situation, but the bus driver was instrumental in pulling over. Once she started to smell gas and smoke, with that combination, she did a fabulous job."
Buhrman told WESH-TV said the children deserve the credit for remaining calm and following the drills that they were taught.
"They did great," she said. "The kids really, truly did great."
In turn, Godino credited Buhrman for her quick action to diagnose the problem with the bus and then safely get the children off quickly.
"That bus driver was did exactly what she was
trained to do," Godino told WTSP-TV. "She saw a hazard, immediately pulled over, and took care of the situation. She was instrumental in saving all those children."
Buhrman, who has driven a bus for the past five years, said she was stunned to see it go up in flames.
"I was completely speechless, flabbergasted. I did cry," she said.
It's not yet clear what caused the fire, but Buhrman is just happy no one was injured.
"Materials can be replaced," Buhrman told WESH-TV. "Humans, kids — that's what's important to us. [The kids] are the most important thing. That's what we do as educators, teachers, and bus drivers — we take care of them and everything else is secondary."