Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
- A Metro Transit driver rescued a man from a burning vehicle in Minneapolis.
- Kenneth Johnson, a training instructor, used a fire extinguisher during the March 13 incident.
MINNEAPOLIS — A Metro Transit driver training instructor is being praised after rescuing a man from a burning vehicle while leading a training session in Minneapolis earlier this month.
Kenneth Johnson, who has been a bus driver for 10 years and an instructor for nearly four, was working with two students on March 13 when he came across a crash near 25th Street and Portland Avenue.
Johnson, who works out of Metro Transit's instruction center training new bus operators, said the morning had started like any other.
"We were just having a good training session," he said.
Then he saw smoke.
Johnson said he pulled over, grabbed a fire extinguisher from the back of the bus and ran toward the vehicle.
The car's engine compartment was on fire and the driver inside was not moving or responding, Johnson said. He tried to break the side window with the extinguisher, then moved to the back window and eventually broke a smaller window before working to put out the flames.
Once the fire was under control, other people began to help, but the doors still would not open, Johnson said. He then contacted Metro Transit's Transit Control Center to report what was happening.
Johnson said first responders arrived and took over. He does not know the condition of the driver.
He said the gravity of what happened did not hit him until after he and his students had left the scene.
"That's where it actually hit me," Johnson said. "I still got to get home to my family, too."
Johnson said the experience became a real-world lesson for the trainees who were with him that day.
"Don't be afraid," he said. "But also know your surroundings."
Co-workers have called him a hero, but Johnson said he does not see himself that way.
"I don't honestly believe that I'm a hero," he said. "I'm just a regular human being."
