Kia Rousseve saved nine kids from death

Keeping calm as her bus burst into flames.

Kia Rousseve is a school bus driver in New Orleans, and when a potentially disastrous situation struck her bus, she emerged as a hero.

The story began when Rousseve noticed something amiss with the vehicle she was entrusted to drive. Feeling the engine lose power was the first indicator, but then there was smoke, and Rousseve wasted no time in pulling the bus over to the side of the road. It was then that a girl on the sidewalk told Rousseve there was a fire underneath the bus. Rousseve got herself and the nine young students off the bus seconds before flames engulfed it completely.

"The bus blew up in a split second," said Rousseve.

The Bus after the incident. Photo courtesy of Ms. Rousseve and her phone.

After receiving word of the bus fire and evacuation, Rousseve said her supervisor sent her a text message thanking her for "making sure the babies were safe." A statement said:

"Her ability to stay calm in the face of danger, ensuring not a single child came to harm is nothing short of heroic."

"It's a poignant reminder of the crucial role bus drivers play in our lives, often going unnoticed until a moment of crisis thrusts them into the spotlight," said the statement which comes via Nola.com.

Everybody likes to imagine how they would act in such a situation. Thankfully, most of us never have to experience it. But Rousseve did, and she saved the lives of ten people.

That's a good thing.

"As soon as I saw the bus smoking, my instinct was to get them off the bus"