When kids escaped a school bus fire in KC, the Red Cross happened to be right there

A school bus carrying children to Kansas City Public Schools’ Foreign Language Academy in midtown caught fire Tuesday morning.

The fire on the bus ignited about 8:45 a.m. near the intersection of West Armour Boulevard and Wyandotte Street. The bus was taking the students to the school at 3450 Warwick Blvd.

The fire happened to occur outside the offices of the American Red Cross Greater Kansas City Chapter at 211 W. Armour Blvd., and staff from the organization helped the children and bus driver.

Julia Pedrosa, a disaster program specialist for the Red Cross, said she and her team were leaving for a meeting when they saw the smoke. They parked their car and went to check on the fire.

The bus driver had gotten the six children out of the bus and everyone was OK, Pedrosa said. They brought the kids inside the Red Cross building and gave them water, coloring books and crayons.

Pedrosa said they wanted to get the kids away from, and out of sight of, the bus to lessen any trauma they might be experiencing.

“We were just thinking about the kids and wanted to make sure they were OK,” Pedrosa said.

Firefighters checked on the children to make sure no one was suffering from smoke inhalation. No injuries were reported.

This story was originally published August 28, 2018 at 4:09 PM.