Bus driver hailed as hero after evacuating more than 50 students during fire

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – A school bus driver is being hailed a hero after her bus with more than 50 students aboard caught fire Tuesday morning.

"I heard some kids screaming and I looked out the window and all I saw was the bus on fire," Rosie Geen said.

Geen and David Porter saw the school bus engulfed in flames and managed to record it all on their cell phone.

"You could feel the heat from across the street. So we had no idea if they were still on there or off there," Porter said.

The bus was carrying 56 students to take to four different schools in Spartanburg County.

School officials said two students seated in the back of the bus told the bus driver they smelled smoke.

[WATCH: South Carolina bus fire]

"I was expecting to see just a little bit of char on the back of the bus. When I pulled up on the scene and saw this, my heart dropped," Dr. Scott Turner, Spartanburg County School District 5 superintendent, said.

After students alerted the bus driver, Teresa Stroble sprang into action to get the kids to safety.

"She did exactly what she had been trained to do in terms of evacuating those students and looking out for their safety," Turner said.

Stroble managed to get all 56 students off the bus and down South Moore Street in Duncan to safety.

"She evacuated those 56 students in less than a minute," Turner said.

Stroble, who is being called a hero for her actions, has served as a bus driver for 10 years.

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