Smoke in the Rear With a Jammed Emergency Door
At 2:18 p.m., Bus 8 is on the shoulder of a four-lane divided highway with 47 middle-school students aboard. Smoke is coming from the rear engine compartment. The bus has stopped with the right wheels on the shoulder, about 8 feet from the travel lane. The front door opens normally; the rear emergency door is jammed; the left-side emergency window opens. Two students use wheelchairs and are secured in the middle of the bus; one aide is aboard. Traffic is heavy and moving at 65 mph. The wind is blowing from the left side of the bus toward the right. The fire extinguisher is at the driver's seat.
1. What is your evacuation sequence, and which exits do you use?
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Stop, set the parking brake, shift to park, shut off the engine, remove the key, and turn on hazards. Evacuate immediately rather than trying to diagnose the smoke. Use the front door as the primary exit and the left emergency window as the secondary exit; do not send students to the jammed rear door. Because the wind is from the left, move students to the left side and upwind, away from traffic and at least 100 feet from the bus. The aide takes the front-door stream while you control the window stream, or you assign responsible older students to lead groups and you take the roster and radio. Call 911 and dispatch. Do not re-enter for belongings.
2. How do you handle the two wheelchair users?
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They cannot use the emergency window. If the bus has a working lift, it may be too slow and too close to the smoke; use it only if the smoke is not yet threatening that area and the aide can operate it. Otherwise, move the wheelchairs to the front door, secure the chairs, and transfer the students to the aide or trained helpers for evacuation through the front door, then move them upwind with the rest of the group. Do not use the rear door. The driver should not leave the bus to carry a student while other students are still aboard without assigning another adult or responsible student to direct the remaining evacuation. Call for EMS for any student with mobility or medical needs.
3. How do you account for students, and would you use the extinguisher first?
Read the worked answer
Take the roster and emergency kit, assemble students at the upwind meeting point, and count by name or by assigned group leaders. Report missing or injured students to the first responder immediately. Do not use the extinguisher first if smoke is already coming from the engine compartment and 47 students are aboard; the priority is evacuation. A driver may fight a small, incipient fire only when doing so does not delay evacuation and when students are already clear and accounted for. In this scenario, the smoke and traffic conditions make evacuation the priority.