While she didn’t have much control about the bus she was driving being on fire, Gerri Driggers did have control of getting the one student on board to safety.

The incident occurred about 2:15 p.m. Tuesday afternoon when Driggers was driving her usual bus route transporting a South Ripley student who attends classes at Milan. “I had one student on and I knew I had to get him off quickly,” she told The Versailles Republican as she was being checked out by personnel from Milan’s life squad at the scene. No one was injured in the incident, although Driggers said she was “quite shaken.”

Driggers said she noticed an orange glow coming from under the dash and knew the bus was on fire. She maneuvered the 66-passenger bus off SR 101 and onto County Road 50 S. Then she was able to get her passenger and herself to safety before the bus went up in flames.

“The bus driver did an excellent job,” noted Bill Bruns one of the first firemen on the scene. He was immediately inside the blazing bus and noted, “It was one of the hottest fires I’ve ever been in.” His bunker gear was badly damaged and his shoulders were slightly burned. “It’s like having a sunburn,” he admitted.

Bruns, who is a bus driver himself, noted that he knows first hand how important his cargo is and how important it is to get them to safety quickly if something goes wrong. The scene Tuesday afternoon just reiterated what he already knew. He said, “It usually takes a minute to get all the students off in a fire drill, but I don’t know how it would go if there were flames coming through the seats.”

Bruns said the bus was fully engulfed when he arrived and “every seat in the bus was on fire.” He and firefighter Scott Huffman were two of the first to arrive.

South Ripley School Superintendent Ted Ahaus echoed the words of Bruns saying that the bus driver did everything right. "She did everything that would be expected of her," Ahaus said. He noted that Driggers recognized the situation and handled it very appropriately. She's been employed as a driver for the school since 2001.

Ahaus noted that the administration and staff worked closely to make sure that every student was taken home on time, even though that bus was out of commission. He reported that everything went off without a hitch and thanked those who made it possible.

Milan’s Lt. Mike Alloway noted that the origin of the fire in the 2007 Mercedes Thomas bus was in the engine compartment. He couldn’t say what the exact cause was at press time. He noted that the wind made the fire spread quickly. He also hailed the bus driver for her quick actions.

Those on the scene included members of the Milan Volunteer Fire Department, Milan Police Department, Ripley County Sheriff’s Department, and Milan Rescue 30.

South Ripley’s Bus #31 is out of commission permanently. The bus was a total loss.

SUBMITTED PHOTO The school bus Jerri Driggers was driving was fully engulfed in flames when Milan firefighters arrived on the scene Tuesday afternoon, September 19, on SR 101. No one was injured.