DURHAM, N.C. — Students and staff at Brogden Middle School this week celebrated the heroic actions of bus driver Deona Washington.

What You Need To Know

  • Bus driver Deona Washington escorted all 28 of her students off a bus before it caught fire

  • Students at Brogden Middle School celebrated and thanked her for her heroic actions

  • The Durham Fire Department is still investigating the fire

Washington safely ushered 28 students off her bus last week before it became engulfed in flames. On Tuesday, students and staff at Brogden Middle School personally thanked her for her bravery. She's been a bus driver for 11 years and says it's an important role in a child's education.

“At first I thought it was just like a routine stop,” Washington said.

When Washington was driving students home one afternoon, she noticed smoke coming from under the hood of the bus. Washington pulled over to the side of the road, and escorted all students off the bus and to safety.

“My kids around my bus with all my routes, they're normally calm anyway, so they just got up,” she said. “I'm like, we got to move now. They were like, OK, are we going to go out the back or are we going to go out the front. And I just went back. And they stood on the side and just waited for my next instruction.”

Moments later the bus was engulfed in flames.

Those students came together Tuesday to celebrate Washington and thank her for her quick thinking. She says she’s never experienced anything like this bus fire, but it is a situation they train for throughout the year.

"Nobody panicked,” Washington said. “I kept them calm. That was my main goal, to keep, if I keep them calm, and I can stay calm, and it'll be a smooth ride.”

She says the recognition feels amazing, but she does it all because she loves her kids.

“Most of them I had in elementary and middle school,” Washington said. “And then my high school kids, I had them for a while, too. So it's like they're my own babies.”

Many classified workers, including transportation staff, at Durham Public Schools say this is a great example of how essential every worker is in taking care of students. 

“If we're not here, most kids can't even get to school,” Washington said. “The bus drivers, I mean, kids can't get to school. Some kids are fortunate. Their parents have cars. But some kids don't. So if we don't run, then they don't go. And they need to learn. They have to learn.”

Washington says buses are built for safety. After talking about the incident with her students Tuesday morning after a long weekend, she says she’s ready to keep going.

After the incident, a dozen firefighters responded to the call and had the flames under control in about 15 minutes. The Durham Fire Department said the bus fire is still under investigation.