Bus driver acts fast - saves passenger from fire

A driver of a Good Samaritan Society bus had to act fast Wednesday when she saw smoke coming out of the engine to get a resident, who's wheelchair-bound, out of the bus while parked at the front entrance near the overhang of Northern Orthopedics in Brainerd.

Brainerd Fire Chief Kevin Stunek said the driver got the resident out and was going to go back on the bus to get her purse, but the fire had already spread throughout the bus. Stunek said the call came in at 3:02 p.m. and firefighters were on the scene within four minutes and the bus was fully engulfed. The fire was completely extinguished at 3:11 p.m.

The bus was a total loss and the overhang had about $10,000 in damages, said Stunek.