November 27, 2008

A Hamilton school bus driver and his 15 young passengers had a lucky escape after their bus caught fire about 4pm yesterday.
The 60-seat bus was on Te Pahu Rd in a rural area west of Hamilton when the driver, Larry Lawrence, noticed smoke billowing from the engine.
Mr Lawrence said pulled onto a safe stretch of the road and told the children to 'get off the bloody bus'.
'The first thing that went through my mind was the kids. I thought: Kids. Off. Out of it,' the Waikato Times reported.
It took 30 seconds to clear the children off the bus and then Mr Lawrence grabbed the fire extinguisher.
When he opened the engine cover the fire grew.
'Once that air got in there it just took off, `vwoom'...I would have been better throwing that bloody fire extinguisher at it.'
A nearby resident called 111 because Mr Lawrence's phone was on the bus.
Parents were called and a replacement bus delivered the children home.
'The kids were great, they didn't panic or anything. They were really good.'
The bus was totally destroyed, but no one was injured.
The cause of the fire was yet to be confirmed.
Twelve firefighters from Hamilton, Te Awamutu and Pirongia attended the fire, which took more than hour to put out.
Go Bus operations manager Paul Bartosh said he was proud of Mr Lawrence's actions.
'He's done everything right and followed procedure. Hero's probably the right word in this case.'
Mr Lawrence visited the parents of many of the children involved last night and would be back behind the wheel today, Mr Bartosh said.
Station officer Geoff Gray agreed Mr Lawrence had done a 'great job'. 'He's got everyone off safely and he's cleared the scene to make the job a bit easier for us.'