Kindergartners rushed off school bus before it’s engulfed in flames

[gtxvideo vid=’LqZbsCKR’ thumb=’http://player.gtxcel.com/thumbs/LqZbsCKR.jpg’ vtitle=’Blythewood school bus fire’]

COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO) – Five and six-year-old children were on their way to a field trip when their bus caught fire Monday (3/18).

Richland District 2 school officials confirmed the incident happened Monday morning in Blythewood.

The group of kindergarten students from were heading to a field trip at Blythewood’s Camp Discovery.

School officials say students, teachers, and chaperones were on the bus when the driver noticed smoke coming from underneath the bus and pulled off Wilson Boulevard.

A volunteer dad on board the bus shared intense video:

VIDEO: Kindergarten students were rushed off this Richland 2 school bus moments before it caught fire in Blythewood this morning.

Bus driver pulled over when it started smoking. All children were taken off and no one was hurt. #SCnews

(????: Larry Johnson) pic.twitter.com/JjOslLa33n

— Josh Berry (@_joshberry) March 19, 2019

“We opened all the emergency exits and I started tossing the kids off the bus,” Larry Johnson said in a Facebook post sharing the video. “Then after we get everybody off the bus, the bus driver attempts to go and turn the bus off and after she turned it off there was a loud explosion and it knocked her out the door of the bus. The bus started smoking really bad then I ran and grabbed her and she couldn’t really get up because of how she got thrown out the bus.”

Johnson added that the kids, bus driver and teachers did great. They ultimately made it to their field trip on a different bus.