Bus fireball Student warned driver after plastic bag began to melt
ATEENAGE college student was hailed a hero after alerting the driver and passengers on a bus that it was on fire.
Ruby Elvin said she realised something was wrong when her plastic tote bag began melting and thick white smoke began billowing around her feet as she sat on the downstairs back seat on a First bus on her way home from college.
The 17-year-old, who said she normally chooses that seat on top of the engine because it is warm, raced down to the front of the bus and warned the driver. Within a couple of minutes, the bus was engulfed in a fireball.
Ruby was returning home to Bedminster Down from morning lectures at the City of Bristol College campus in the city centre at around 12.40pm yesterday when she realised the engine she was sat on top of was on fire.
“It started getting really hot. My bag started burning up, melting. It’s one of those plasticky tote bags and the corner of it just melted. Then there was smoke around my feet,” she said. “I ran down to the front of the bus as we were going up the hill into Bedminster Down and told the driver. At first she said ‘no, it’s not on fire,’ but then she looked round and the back of the bus was filled with smoke.
“I normally sit in that seat at the back of the bus downstairs because it’s on the engine and always warm, and I don’t like being cold. This time it was too hot,” she said. “The driver stopped the bus and told everyone to get out quickly. There was maybe six passengers including me downstairs and another couple upstairs.
“As soon as we got out we could see that the whole of the back of the bus outside was on fire. Really quickly, the flames just literally engulfed it all, where I was sitting and the whole back end of the bus,” she added.
Friends and people commenting on our website’s Facebook page hailed Ruby’s quick-thinking yesterday.
“Well done, you saved many lives,” said Mikkellaa Haley Parsons. “Be proud of yourself. Be proud that you raised the alarm and saved everyone.”
And Chris Hines added: “Well done, you are a hero of the day and saved many lives.”
But Ruby was remaining modest. “I wouldn’t say that, really. It was the normal thing to do - there was a thick cloud of smoke so I had to do something,” she said.
Ruby and the rest of the passengers had to walk the rest of their journey into south west Bristol, but luckily Ruby lives in Bedminster Down so didn’t have far to go.
One witness to the fire, healthcare worker Gaye Russell was just returning home after a night shift when she saw the bus become engulfed in flames just feet from her house.
Gaye’s home in Bedminster Down was one of three damaged by the fireball which erupted from the back of the First Bus, which was heading along Bishopsworth Road when it caught fire.
The carer said it was lucky no one was injured or her and her neighbours’ homes weren’t more badly damaged.
Gaye works as an agency carer in and around Bristol, and had just completed a nightshift, and had popped in to see her mother, who lives down the road.
“I was walking home and could see the bus stop outside my front door, and it was on fire,” she said.
“This was before the fire brigade got there, and the passengers were all getting out. The back was well alight and the flames were spreading. Everyone was worried it would explode and I thought ‘OK that’s right next to my house.’”
But Gaye’s first instinct was to stop any more people getting into a dangerous situation, so she raced to the Cross Hands junction with Bedminster Road, to try to stop motorists coming up the road into the path of the fire.
“Most of them stopped, but some didn’t – some people won’t be told, and maybe they’re just nosy,” she said.
“While I was there I heard the bang – it was loud and I thought ‘that was the bus going up.’ I went back and my neighbour said ‘your guttering’s gone.’”
The fire brigade were soon there and extinguished the fire, and then inspected the three houses next to the bus, including Gaye’s.
“I had the fire brigade in the loft and outside the house. The guttering is all melted and they pulled down the rest of it, because it could fall on someone. The white window frames are all brown and black and fire damaged too,” she said.
“All I can think is it could have been much worse.
“It’s really lucky no one was hurt in this, and that our homes aren’t that badly damaged,” she added.