Is there anyone more on top of it all than a mom? That was certainly the case in East Bethel, Minnesota, last week when Kari Thorp’s sharp eye and quick reaction time got 22 elementary school kids to safety after a school bus fire broke out.
Thorp was walking out her front door to pick up her 6-year-old daughter from the bus stop when she spotted flames emerging from the bus’ tire well. She jumped into action, and with the help of the bus driver, Rick Gratton, got all of the kids to the safety of her front porch before the vehicle went up in flames.
“As soon as I got out the door I noticed the first flame right above the tire, and I immediately yelled, ‘Fire,’” Thorp told Inside Edition. “I just wanted to get them off as quickly as we can because I didn’t know what was going to happen and I didn’t know how fast this fire, like if it was going to explode right then and there or what.”
Shocking video, recorded from Thorp’s doorbell camera, shows the bus engulfed in flames, plus two explosions as the front tires blow.
“The kids were scared. A lot of them were crying, some of them had backpacks and lunch boxes on there so they were kinda worried about that,” Thorp told Fox9.
After the fire and rescue took place, both the bus driver and Thorp were celebrated with gift baskets from St. Francis Area Schools and recognized by the community.
“It was scary, but I think I had so much adrenaline going I was just worried about getting everyone off,” she told Fox9.
Watch more from Inside Edition below.
