Farmworkers Are Heroes After Rescuing 20 Children From Burning School Bus In California

Farmworkers Are Heroes After Rescuing 20 Children From Burning School Bus In California

Two California farmers were honored recently for being the first ones to help save over 20 students aboard a school bus that caught fire.

Long before the Madera Country Fire Department arrived on scene, Angel Zarco and Carlos Perea were there, and in fact, the pair noticed the smoke billowing from the back of the bus even before the driver.

They quickly alerted the driver and helped evacuate all the students on board before hightailing it to a safe distance as the school bus began to burn.

At a meeting of the Madera County Board of Supervisors, the men were proclaimed as heroes of the community, who acted to the “very highest standards.”

“We were just making sure the kids were far away enough so that they wouldn’t get hurt,” Zarco said. “The bus caught fire right away, probably within like two minutes, three minutes. It all happened right away.”

California Fire Division Chief Larry Pendarvis said simply that buses can be replaced, but lives cannot.

MORE SCHOOL BUS RESCUES: School Bus Catches on Fire, Driver Gets All the Kids Out–and Herself–Before it Explodes Behind Her

“We can’t thank you enough for assisting prior to our resources arriving,” he said live on ABC30 Action News.

Perea said he believes the Good Lord had put them at that intersection that morning to save those kids, and that seeing his daughter among the onlookers at the board meeting when he was honored by their community was one of the best feelings he could imagine.

WATCH the story from ABC30…