Mother and child helped off bus moments before it explodes in ball of flames

'Within three minutes the whole of the back of the bus was on fire...'

Fiona Taylor took an Arriva Yorkshire Tiger bus with her 2-year-old daughter Marnie when a man tapped her shoulder.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Taylor was on her way to Kirkheaton Primary School to pick up her 5-year-old son Bryon Friday afternoon.

Nothing seemed amiss as Taylor spoke to her sister on the phone but only a few seats away, danger was creeping closer.

"As soon as I got on the bus there was a continuous beeping but I was on the phone to my sister and didn't think too much about it," Taylor told The Examiner.

"All of a sudden this man in his 40s, the only other passenger on the bus, began tapping me on the shoulder and I looked at the back of the bus and there was smoke coming out at the back and the beeping was very loud.

"He helped me get off with my buggy [stroller] and Marnie."

She explained the bus driver's phone was dead so the man who helped her from the bus called firefighters. She thought to herself, "I just wanted to get as far away as possible."

Her fears were justified as the entire back of the bus became a fiery ball within three minutes.

"We were on a busy road and I was wondering what to do when a man pulled up in his car and kindly gave me a lift to my son's school. I was fine at the scene but afterwards I had a bit of a delayed shock."

After the event, authorities reported the three passengers and driver were all safely evacuated before the bus was completely engulfed in flames just after 3 p.m. on Friday.

The driver was alerted to a problem when a warning light on the dash began to flash but at that point, the engine bay was already on fire.

A West Yorkshire Fire Service spokesman explained it took two fire crews to control the fire, which damaged a telephone pole, but no one was hurt.

Richard Johnson, the marketing director for Arriva announced: "Firstly, this was obviously a distressing incident for all, especially more so for any passengers with young children. I'm glad they are OK and sorry for any trauma this may have caused, especially for the young passenger.

"Unfortunately at this stage I'm unable to provide any further updates as there is an ongoing investigation into what happened on Friday.

"What I can say is this information will be passed onto Simon Finnie, the managing director of Yorkshire Tiger, to aid him in this investigation."

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