A school bus driver went above the call of duty to help save the lives of 40 school children from a bus fire. The principal of the school she works at is calling her a hero and we can’t help but agree with that.

Everyone has a hero in life, someone to whom they can look up, and gain encouragement, and for these school children, it is their school bus driver, Janet O’Connell, who regularly goes beyond her job description to take care of them.

When Janet noticed smoke coming from the bus while she was driving on the route, her priority was the children and she rushed to get all 40 kids to safety. She pulled the bus to a side and found that the smoke was coming from the front of it.

She did not waste any time ensuring the lives of all forty of her students from kindergarten to sixth grade were safe and off the bus to safety. The video of the incident shows how scary the situation was as the smoke is billowing from the front of the bus and then huge flames enveloped the bus.

Janet’s passion to her job is the reason she noticed the fire early and was able to safely return all forty of her kids that day. What really grabbed our hearts was her servant heart for her students, as well as her refusal to accept any publicity for what she done.

“I did what I did because I love my kids,” she informed the principal. “We are blessed that everyone is safe,” the principal said. This is due to our driver, Ms. Janet, and the pupils’ prompt actions. We are proud that our pupils demonstrated their character as leaders by assisting one another.”

May Ms. Janet O’Connell’s example motivate us to serve others with a servant’s heart. Let us endeavor to be humble, loving, and compassionate in our service to others and to God.