A 28-Year-Old New Orleans School Bus Driver Bravely Rescues 8 Children Moments Before Bus Catches Fire

A school bus driver in New Orleans is being praised as a hero for saving the lives of eight children after a malfunction caused the bus to catch fire.

Kia Rousseve, 28, told NOLA.com that the incident happened after 7 a.m. Wednesday morning while driving along her route.

Rousseve noticed the bus began losing power and started to smoke, prompting her to pull over and call her supervisor. She grabbed her purse and quickly ushered the eight children off the bus before the fire began.

“My instinct is like ‘No, this is not normal.’ My instinct was like ‘Pull the bus over,'” Rousseve told the outlet.

Rousseve said she had been a school bus driver for three years and started working for Community Academies in February.

She had six more stops on her Uptown route that morning, which was headed to Lafayette Academy, when the bus started having mechanical issues, WWL-TV reported.

Despite never having faced such a harrowing ordeal before, Rousseve expresses gratitude that she and everyone else were safe and unharmed.

“This was something that I never experienced,” Rousseve said. “For me to save my life and them kids’ lives, that was a real good thing that I did.”

Rousseve’s supervisor issued a statement commending her quick thinking amid the incident.

“Her ability to stay calm in the face of danger, ensuring not a single child came to harm is nothing short of heroic,” her supervisor said in the statement, per NOLA.com. “It’s a poignant reminder of the crucial role bus drivers play in our children’s lives, often going unnoticed until a moment of crisis thrusts [them] into the spotlight.”

The terrifying experience has instilled fear in Rousseve, making her hesitant to drive again.

“I’m really … not sleeping. It’s just been a lot going on,” she said.