1 day Ago By Caleb Taylor
Evie Clydesdale was expecting an average day at school on Thursday. But things took an unexpected turn when the bus she was on caught fire as she travelled to school in the NSW beachside town of Kiama about 8.45am.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Brave student reveals how she leapt into action when her school bus caught fire. Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today The bus, which was carrying 33 students, was quickly evacuated by driver Gary before two crews from NSW Fire and Rescue managed to put the blaze out. The bus was carrying 200 litres of diesel fuel in its tank, compounding the emergency.
Amid the ordeal, eleven-year-old Evie helped to get the younger students off the bus and reassured them, earning widespread praise for her calm actions. Evie and her parents Victoria and Damien joined Nat and Shirvo on Sunrise on Friday, where she was quizzed about her compassionate, quick-thinking response. “We heard that you were a bit of a hero because you went back and helped some of the younger kids get off the bus.
What made you do that?” Shirvo asked. “I just felt like doing something right for other people,” Evie said, while admitting it was also “very scary” and “nerve-racking”. “I just wanted to make sure that some of the kids were OK.
” Her dad Damien was then quizzed about when he found out about the bus fire. “As with most things in a small town like Kiama, the news makes it on the community page, the Facebook community page, before it makes it anywhere else,” he said. “So that’s where I saw it.
It was on videos posted on there. And then I got a call from one of the other parents saying, ‘I think Evie’s bus is on fire’. We jumped in the car and went down to check she was all right.
” Victoria said she was at work when she got the call. “I was probably actually one of the last to know. I was actually in class teaching at the time.
I didn’t have my phone with me,” Victoria said. “Damien sent me a text to say that Evie was safe and that what had happened with the bus that it went up in flames. “I called Damien straightaway and talked to Evie as well, because she was home by that time.
Felt so grateful to Gary the driver for acting as quickly as he did. “I’m so proud. When Evie described to me yesterday what happened, it sounded like she stayed really calm when she was on the bus, telling the smaller children to hurry and get off the bus,” Victoria said.
“So, when she said that, I was just so proud, because she wasn’t just thinking of herself. When she got off the bus, she was seen by other members of the public just asking if the other smaller kids were OK.” At the scene on Thursday, NSW Police Superintendent Adam Dewberry said the cause of the fire was still being investigated.
“We’ll let it cool down more before moving into investigation and recovery,” he said..
