KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MI – When Jimmy Rubio realized a school bus was on fire, he didn’t stop to think. He jumped into action.
Rubio was driving down West KL Avenue on Sept. 17 when he approached the intersection on South 11th Street, seeing traffic was at a standstill even though the light was green.
“You see a guy waving his arms frantically and crazy on the shoulder of the road, by that bus,” Rubio said.
A Kalamazoo Public Schools bus was stopped a few cars in front of the Two Men and a Truck vehicle, and the man was trying to get the cars to move away from the bus.
“This bus was on fire, with smoke rising into the air,” Rubio said. “Once I saw that, I was like, ‘Holy crap, I need to jump into action, to see if there was a danger,’ especially with how frantic the man was.”
A mechanical issue with the bus’s rear brakes caused a brake fire, KPS spokesperson Linda Mah said in a statement.
Rubio jumped out of his truck and started searching for the fire extinguisher under the seat.
“I’m running over there and ripping the pin out at the same time to make it usable,” he said.
Rubio reached the bus and started to spray the extinguisher onto the rear wheels. After spraying both sides of the bus, Rubio helped free a heavy-duty extinguisher that was on the bus and sprayed the wheels again, just in case.
The bus driver was busy helping two elementary-age kids off the bus, Rubio said.
“By the time everything was extinguished, that’s about when the fire department arrived to respond to it,” he said. “Another bus came to pick up the two boys that were on the bus ride that they will never forget.”
The fire never spread to the interior of the bus, the district’s statement said. The students and the bus driver were uninjured.
“We appreciate the assistance of the public in helping to keep our students and staff safe,” said Terri Aman, KPS executive supervisor for transportation.
Rubio said he took action so fast because all he could think about was kids possibly being in danger. He needed to do what he could to help as quickly as possible.
“The bystanders are the first responders in that moment,” Rubio said. “If they ever come upon a situation where there’s others in danger, I would hope they don’t think twice about jumping into action and saving people or the situation however they can.”
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