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Driver rescues nearly 40 children from burning bus

Kristina Behrman of Davenport, Florida, called 911 when she saw smoke coming from the back of the bus as she was driving students to school. She got the students to evacuate the bus just before it burst into flames.

December 8, 2014
Driver rescues nearly 40 children from burning bus

Kristina Behrman of Davenport, Florida, got students to evacuate her bus just before it burst into flames. Photo from WTSP video, taken by a 10 News viewer.

1 min to read


DAVENPORT, Fla.  — A school bus driver here was able to safely deboard nearly 40 students from a bus before it burst into flames last week, WTSP reports.

Kristina Behrman was driving the students to school when, shortly after 7 a.m., she saw smoke coming from the back of the bus, she told WTSP. She pulled over and called 911, and said that within minutes, the smoke turned into flames. She got the students to evacuate the bus just before the flames started coming out of the back of the bus, she added.

Sgt. Mary Godino of the Florida Highway Patrol told WTSP Behrman did exactly what she was trained to do by pulling over the bus when she spotted a hazard and taking care of the situation, and that she was “instrumental in saving all those children.”

While many are hailing Behrman as a hero, she told WTSP that she “didn't do anything any other, I hope, bus driver or teacher would[n't] do. We go to work every day and we're there to educate and protect.”

Watch video of the incident taken by a 10 News viewer, provided online by WTSP, below. To read the full story, go here.

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