Hero driver saves all nine children on her school bus after getting them off minutes before it exploded in ball of flames

A New Orleans school bus driver is being hailed as a hero after she ushered students, some as young as kindergartners, off of her vehicle moments before it blew up. 

Kia Rousseve who just started working for the school district in February, that she was making her fifth stop on a regular morning around 7am on March 13 when she noticed that her bus was losing power in the Central City section of the city. 

'I seen the smoke and then a little girl came and told me the bus was on fire underneath. I got them off,' Rousseve, 28, told WVUE. The exact cause of the blaze remains under investigation but the driver believes that a faulty alternator is to blame.

The hero driver went on to say that despite getting all of her children off safely and having nothing to do with the fire, she was still subjected to a drugs test, which she passed. 

Rousseve said that she helped the children escape through the front door rather than the emergency exit. 

Kia Rousseve, 28, just started working for the school district in February and was about halfway through her route when the fire broke out 

'I seen the smoke and then a little girl came and told me the bus was on fire underneath. I got them off,' Rousseve, 28, said in an interview

'I turned the bus off and got off. When I got off, the bus blew up. All I heard was boom, boom, boom. I was like oh my God, the bus blew up,' Rousseve said

'I turned the bus off and got off. When I got off, the bus blew up. All I heard was boom, boom, boom. I was like oh my God, the bus blew up,' Rousseve said. 

In a separate interview with NOLA.com, Rousseve said: 'If I would have been still on that bus... I would have blew up with the bus.' 

Rousseve she was thinking of her own child as she rescued the children. 'I feel great about saving other kids lives and saving my life,' she said. 

Rousseve has been driving buses in New Orleans since 2021. 

In the wake of the incident, Rousseve said that she's struggled to sleep and is afraid to get behind the wheel of her bus again. 'I'm really ... not sleeping. It's just been a lot going on,' she told the website.  

'Her ability to stay calm in the face of danger, ensuring not a single child came to harm is nothing short of heroic. It's a poignant reminder of the crucial role bus drivers play in our children's lives, often going unnoticed until a moment of crisis thrusts hem into the spotlight,' a statement being shared on social media about Rousseve reads, according to NOLA.com. 

According to a study from the Department of Transport, bus fires are reported daily in the US but few are as explosive as the one endured by Rousseve and her passengers. 

In March 2023, a school bus was recorded engulfed in flames in the BW Cooper section of the city. While two months later, a tourist bus in the city also caught fire.