Park Hill School Bus Catches On Fire

A school bus fire on Thursday was caught on tape by a witness.

The fire started on a bus at Hawthorn Elementary School on Barry Road, which is in the Park Hill School District.

There was only one student on board when the driver noticed smoke coming from the bus.

"We were just driving over here and passed by the bus, and I just saw a little bit of smoke," said Haley Graham, who witnessed the fire.

The driver pulled over at the school, and both the second-grade student and the driver got out safely.

"Immediately pulled over, it just happened to be that they pulled over right in front of one of our elementary schools," said Paul Kelly with the Park Hill School District.

"I see the windows start to shatter, and they just completely broke out and the whole thing just went up into flames. It just happened all at once," Graham told KMBC's Jere Gish.

Graham said she got out her digital camera and recorded the fire.

By the time firefighters sprayed it down, it was just a shell.

"There's nothing left of it," Graham said. "I don't think I'll be riding a bus anytime soon."

"Any time you see a school bus and fire, it's unsettling. It's not something you ever want to see," Kelly said.

The bus driver was taking the second-grade student home from a special program in Kansas when the problem started.

The bus is owned and operated by the company First Student.

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• school
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• Hawthorn
• elementary