“I am a mom of two kids. It’s my job to save them.”
Image via Facebook
After the bus she was driving caught fire on Monday, Reneita Smith jumped to action and successfully saved all 20 Glenarden Woods Elementary School students from harm. According to Mark Brady, the public information officer in Prince George’s County, Maryland, where the incident took place, the fire broke out in the late afternoon and quickly spread after originating near one of the rear wheels.
During the evacuation, Brady stated Smith “was able to remain calm throughout the ordeal,” KTLA 5 reports. Thanks to her quick thinking and composed reaction, Smith managed to get all the kids off the bus and none of them suffered any injuries. Fazlul Kabir commended Smith for her heroism in a Facebook post, writing,
“A big THANK YOU to our school bus driver Reneita Smith who just saved 20 elementary school kids from a bus fire that completely destroyed the bus. Reneita [not only] took each one of the 20 kids from the bus one by one, but also went into the empty bus again to check if everyone was out, while it was still burning.”
Kabir, who witnessed the bus burn, wrote that Smith told her, “I am a mom of two kids. It’s my job to save them.” After Smith safely delivered the children from the bus, their parents came to pick them up from the scene, says Brady. In a video taken by a Branchville Volunteer firefighter’s dashboard camera, you can see smoke and flames engulfing the school bus. While police are still investigating the cause of the fire, parents can rest assured their children are safe in the hands of Reneita Smith.
Watch the video below to see the high-stakes situation for yourself.
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