Keeping her eyes peeled helped a Foothills School Division bus driver stop a potentially large grass fire in the heavily wooded area west of Millarville.
Lisa Willis, a bus driver for Millarville Community School, had dropped off her last student when she noticed a strange mist coming from the ditch on 214 Avenue West at about 3:15 p.m. Oct. 16.
“I noticed a little puff in the ditch and it didn’t look quite right — it kind of looked like dust,” Willis said. “By the time I had opened the doors and was dropping him off, it was quite the puff of smoke.”
The mother of the child went to investigate while Willis turned the bus around.
“By then we had a full fire and sparks coming off the power pole,” she said. “It was catching real fast.”
Willis’ last stop was located just off Secondary Highway 762 in the far west reaches of the M.D. of Foothills.
She went to work putting out the fire while the mother, after making sure everyone was safe, went to call the fire department.
“I went out with the fire extinguisher and the broom and put out the fire,” Willis said. “It was a joint effort, with the mother and myself, with her making phone calls and running back and forth.”
Willis hung around to wait for the Priddis fire department to arrive. However, there was just one problem. Although Willis was able finish her Millarville School run, she still had to turn around and pick up Oilfields students being transferred to their Millarville area stop – who were waiting for Willis to get them home.
“The other bus driver on this end, Wendy Arkes, finished off my run for me,” she said.
The potential fire was on Holger and Reingard Mandler’s land.
“We got a phone call from our neighbour and we went down there and there was Lisa with a fire extinguisher,” Reingard said. “We are very grateful to her for taking such quick action.
“Everybody in this neighourhood is worried about possible fires in the woods and how quickly it could spread in these dry conditions.”
Grateful, but not totally surprised.
“That is the kind of person she is,” Reingard said of Willis. “She is very responsible — she used to drive our son to Millarville school.”
The Mandlers sent a letter of appreciation to Millarville School principal Glenn Gibson containing accolades of Willis’ quick thinking.
As far as Willis is concerned it was all in a day’s work.
“It was just a case of being in the right spot at the right time,” she said. “Anybody would have done it.”
