A Sea to Sky School District bus en route to Howe Sound Secondary School stopped short of its destination when a fire ignited in the engine compartment on Wednesday (May 11).
The incident happened just before 9 a.m. when bus driver Jean Davis noticed smoke billowing behind the bus, radioed to her dispatcher and warned the students she was going to pull over.
"Once I pulled over we saw more of the smoke and the kids said to me, 'The bus is on fire!'" she said.
"Instantly I just said, 'Everybody off the bus' and there was a very quick evacuation - they're not little children, so they were very quick and obedient."
While Davis focused on getting the students off the bus, local resident Brett Webber, who had been following the bus in his car and saw the flames before Davis and the students, came to the rescue.
"He saw the flames before I saw them because he was right behind the bus and when I pulled the bus over to get the kids out, he came to the door and once all the kids were gone, grabbed the fire extinguisher," she said.
"This gentleman Brett Webber was right there, Johnny on the spot, and as soon as he had the extinguisher he was all over it like a man's man."
Davis said she was overwhelmed by how many people stopped to help out and provide fire extinguishers - even students from the Howe Sound Secondary woodworking shop.
Squamish Fire Rescue captain Russell Inouye arrived at the scene after the fire had been extinguished and shortly after RCMP had arrived.
"They had a fire on the school bus that originated in the engine compartment" he said, adding that no one was hurt in the incident.
Rick Hume, Sea to Sky School District facilities and services director, said "the bus is a mess and it's being towed to North Vancouver to ICBC."
He commended Davis for her quick thinking and brave reaction.
"It was a full bus, so there would be about 60 kids on the bus and the driver sensed something, stopped and her first instinct was to get the kids off safely," Hume said, adding that she also turned off the bus to cut any fuel to the engine.
Inouye said there was a small oil leak from the bus that firefighters and school district mechanics controlled and prevented from entering a nearby storm drain.
"There was minimal environmental damage," he said.
According to an RCMP officer at the scene, "the students were rushed off the bus but no one was hurt."
Davis said she returned to her bus driving duties later that day hoping nothing else would go wrong, considering there were no spare buses left. When asked how she felt during the experience, she said it was "quite the adrenaline rush - in the negative way."
"You never want something to happen while you're driving," she said.
