PLANTATION, FLA. (WSVN) - A school trip took a terrifying turn for more than three dozen South Florida students when their bus caught fire on the Florida Turnpike.
A TikTok video showed children running away from the burning bus, Friday night.
The bus was taking 37 students from Seminole Middle School and four chaperones back to Plantation after a fun-filled field trip at SeaWorld Orlando.
But none of them could have guessed their day would literally end up in flames.
Passers-by captured another angle of the blaze on their cellphone.
“Whoa, dude, that’s crazy,” someone is heard saying in the video.
Passers-by captured another angle of the blaze on their cellphone.
The fire sparked at around 7:30 p.m., just before the Port St. Lucie Service Plaza.
Parent Danielle Bernard said her daughter, Mia Jolie-Bernard, was on board the bus at the time.
“She called us right away, and she’s like, ‘The bus is on fire!’ Screamed it,” she said.
“Something popped in the back, and it was crazy,” said Jolie-Bernard. “All of us woke up.”
Jolie-Bernard said she then started smelling fumes.
The bus pulled over on the side of the highway and, school officials said, an assistant principal and a school resource officer evacuated the students to a nearby rest stop.
“We just ran, ’cause we started seeing smoke, a lot of smoke and flames,” said Jolie-Bernard.
Firefighters from the St. Lucie County Fire District published photos showing the back of the bus totally charred.
A spokesperson for Broward County Public Schools issued a statement that reads in part, “All students were safe during this time,” adding, “Once the replacement charter bus arrived, the students and chaperones returned safely to the school.”
Bernard’s family is especially thankful for the school resource officer who was chaperoning.
“He was really calming us down, trying to say that everything was going to be OK,” said Jolie-Bernard.
“And he even bought them doughnuts,” said Bernard.
“Yeah, bought us donuts, snacks, and he wanted us to stay as calm as possible,” said Jolie-Bernard.
The Bernards told 7News the school resource officer is a family friend who happens to be a former firefighter.
“And he’s like, ‘Let me tell you, I looked for a fire extinguisher, and I couldn’t find one. Went into all the compartments on two buses and couldn’t find one,” said Bernard.
The company that owns the charter bus did not immediately respond to 7News’ call for comment.
As of late Saturday night, officials have not specified the cause of the fire.
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