School bus driver talks about saving 9 students as bus goes up in flames, explodes

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE/Gray News) - A New Orleans school bus driver is being hailed a hero after saving nine students as her bus went up in flames.

“As soon as I seen the bus smoking, my instinct was get them off of the bus,” bus driver Kia Rousseve said.

On Wednesday morning, Rousseve was about to make her fifth stop when she noticed something was off. She pulled over.

“I seen the smoke and then a little girl came and told me the bus was on fire underneath,” Rousseve said. “I got them off.”

Rousseve said she quickly ushered the students from kindergarten through eighth grade off the bus. She said she was able to use the front door instead of the emergency exit.

“I turned the bus off and got off. When I got off, the bus blew up,” she said. “All I heard was boom, boom, boom. I was like, ‘Oh my God, the bus blew up.’”

Rousseve said she was thinking about her child as she saved the student on her bus. She works for Community Academies of New Orleans, which called her actions “Courage on wheels,” and said she has been driving school buses for three years.

“I feel great about saving other kids’ lives and saving my life,” she said.

Rousseve said she believes a faulty alternator is to blame for the fire. She said she’s proud to share her heroism story and that God was watching over everyone on her bus.

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