HILLSDALE COUNTY, MI –Michaela Cousino was on her regular route as a Hanover-Horton School District bus driver early Tuesday morning when she saw fire on the front porch of a mobile home.
She acted without thinking, parking her school bus on the side of the road, telling the one high school student on it to call 911 and running up to the front door of the home.
Cousino knew kids lived there and said she wanted to make sure everyone was out of the mobile home near the intersection of Mosherville and Round Lake roads in Somerset Township.
“I started just pounding on the windows and screaming, ‘Get out. The house is on fire,’” Cousino said. “I was so adrenalized and so desperate to wake somebody that I had – well I broke my hand. I didn’t know I broke my hand. I busted out the window accidently and I sliced my wrist open.”
When no one answered the front door at around 6:45 a.m. Nov. 3, Cousino tried to open it to let dogs out, but it was locked. She then ran around to the back of the house where she pounded on the bedroom window, until she accidently broke it.
When she came back around to the front of the mobile home, owner Trent Howland was outside.
He had been getting ready for work. His kids were off to school and his wife had left for work. He didn’t realize anything was amiss until he heard the pounding and checked the surveillance cameras. That’s when he saw the fire.
“I’m in my pajamas,” Howland said. “No shoes, no socks, it’s cold outside. I run outside and grabbed a hose and tried to start putting the fire out. … If it wasn’t for her taking the time to stop and come beat on the house so that I was aware, we wouldn’t have a house.”
As Howland put the fire out with a hose, Cousino realized she was bleeding and went back to her bus to let her boss know she wouldn’t be able to drive the rest of her route.
By the time the fire department arrived on scene, Howland had put the fire out. Those extra few minutes from Cousino’s alert are the reason the mobile home is still standing, Howland said.
“If it hadn’t been for her, another 10, 8 minutes and my entire house would have been engulfed in flames,” Howland said. “To be honest with you, I may not be here right now. My house wouldn’t be here right now if it wasn’t for her. People do some amazing things and don’t think about it.”
Cousino was taken to the hospital where she was treated for a broken hand and the gash on her wrist. She said she can still drive the bus and doesn’t expect any long-term issues from her injury.
“I myself, am truly grateful she did what she did,” Howland said. “My kids are very grateful, my wife’s very grateful. I just want her to know how much we appreciate what she did. … There’s no words to express my gratitude.”
Howland wasn’t able to thank Cousino before she was taken away in an ambulance. There was too much happening at once, he said. But he is incredibly thankful for her actions.
“Without her, me and my family wouldn’t have a house, my family might not have a father. ” Howland said. “I’m thankful. I’m just so thankful for what she did. That was very unselfish of her to do what she did.”
The next time Cousino picked up the high school student who called 911, she said she made sure to thank him. His 911 call gave her time to alert Howland to the fire.
“When he got on the bus I said, ‘You probably saved their house from burning down and I just wanted to thank you so much for being calm and being there and helping,’” Cousino said. “I hope he feels good about it. I’m grateful he was on.”
The fire started when Howland’s pellet burner threw a spark onto the leaves on the porch. After the leaves caught fire, a cooler started burning, along with old phone lines stapled to the home, Howland said.
Since the fire was caught so early, Howland was able to repair the trailer.
“You’re not obligated to stop and get out of your vehicle – certainly not a school bus – to wake somebody, but I would want somebody to do that for me,” Cousino said. "That could be the difference of my life. It took very little time to do that, I have to say. There’s not question what you should do.
“Morally I could not have lived with myself I had driven on and found out later that, that family had lost their home and their dogs perished and their dad perished, because I think that’s what I would have read.”
Read more from MLive:
Ann Arbor home severely damaged by fire
COVID-19 cases in 3 Jackson-area school districts cause switch to remote learning
County National Bank closing lobbies because of rising coronavirus cases
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