17 Kids Evacuated from Burning NY School Bus

A school bus driver, alerted by another motorist’s flashing headlights, pulled his smoking vehicle to the side of the road in time to get everyone off before the bus was engulfed in flames.

Seventeen 3- and 4-year-olds from a day care center and seven adults were safely evacuated and took refuge in nearby woods as fire destroyed the bus Monday, Lewisboro police Chief Drew Marchiano said.

The bus was taking children from the Little People day care center in Mahopac, N.Y., on a field trip to the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk, Conn., he said.

Shortly after 11 a.m., while on Route 35, the driver saw another driver signaling him with flashing headlights and pulled over, then saw the smoke, Marchiano said.

“They got everybody off,” he said.

A school bus from the Katonah-Lewisboro school district was brought in to take the children to a local hospital for a quick check, but “nobody was hurt,” Marchiano said.

The cause of the bus fire was being investigated.