A Louisiana school bus driver sprang into action, getting nine children off the bus before it caught fire, according to ABC News.
Kia Rousseve, 28, was heading to the fifth stop on her route on March 13 when she realized something was wrong with the bus, ABC reported. She realized while driving the bus started to lose power.
“The bus started acting crazy and started jerking and going real, real slow,” Rousseve told “Good Morning America” (GMA).
“I put my motherhood on. I have a child, so I thought about them kids like it was my own child,” she added. (RELATED: GoFundMe For Bus Driver Who Drank White Claw By ‘Mistake’ While Transporting Kids Raises Thousands).
Security camera footage shows the incident unfolding. Rousseve can be seen pulling over while a bystander runs to the bus, telling her flames are coming from underneath the vehicle, ABC noted. Rousseve told GMA she quickly gathered the students, ranging from kindergarten to eighth grade, and led them off the bus. Moments later, the bus was engulfed in flames.
“I just had to stay calm for the kids because there was crying and running up the street, and I had to get them together, you know, make sure they were straight,” she told GMA.
“We could have lost our lives. That’s what I’ve been thinking a lot,” she said. “Every time I look at the pictures and like, wow, my seat was the first thing that caught on fire.”
The Community Academies of New Orleans, the company Rousseve works for, called her actions “courage on wheels,”
“I was just glad that I was being a hero to the kids and being a hero to myself by getting them off the bus,” Rousseve told GMA.