An eight month pregnant bus driver is being hailed as an everyday hero for saving an entire busload of children from a fire.
Imunek Williams was carting 37 school children ranging from kindergartners to high schoolers to Milwaukee Academy of Science last Wednesday, when she got a whiff of something foul.
“I started to smell something funny at the stoplight, and I just thought it was normal smoke coming from another car, because I always smell smoke or weird smells,” Williams told local outlet WISN.
“But then as I started to drive more, the smell and the smoke started to get thicker.”
She was tried to call dispatch to signal an emergency, but the smoke was overwhelming.
“I couldn’t barely get what I was trying to say out because of the smoke was hitting me in the face in my eyes so I was just like OK forget the radio,” she told TMJ4.
After a two hour long pick-up process, Williams was only a half-a-mile away from the school, but immediately pulled over and ushered the students out of the vehicle.
Her decision was a life-saving choice, as seconds later, the vehicle school bus was completely engulfed in fire.
“I was like, OK, let’s just get off the bus, I just told the kids, let’s get off. I evacuated the bus, made sure everyone was off, and made them line up against a gate,” Williams recalled.
“I just feel like I had to stay calm. Like, it was my job to stay calm,” she detailed.
She was the last person off out of the vehicle, after making sure all the children were safely out.
“And as soon as we stepped off the bus, I turned around and the bus was just… in flames.”
Williams said that her “mommy instincts” caused her quick reaction and she’s thankful that all the students made it off the bus before it ignited.
“Everyone’s okay so that just makes me happy,” she remarked.
The fiery blaze was caught on camera by a passerby, and could be seen completely engulfing the bus while fire crews rushed to extinguish it.
None of the children were harmed in the incident, but Williams was taken to a local hospital and treated for smoke inhalation.
Thankfully, she and her baby boy were both given the all clear, and Williams was able to get back to her route the next day.
“I actually picked them up this morning, and they actually weren’t expecting to see me,” she noted.
“They were like, ‘Oh you’re back? You didn’t get burned up?’ I said ‘No, I’m still here.'”
While she is being hailed as a hero, the pregnant woman believes she responded like any of her colleagues would have in the same situation.
“Honestly, it feels good seeing the kids this morning and having them thanking me, the school thanking me,” Williams told reporters.
“It just feels good that I was able to get them off and no one was hurt. That’s just my biggest concern because if it was my kid on the bus, I would want the bus driver to do the exact same thing.”
