Family of 26 escapes before bus catches fire on I-95 in Jacksonville

More than two dozen family members escaped a bus moments before it caught fire Sunday on a Jacksonville interstate.

Twenty-six family members were traveling from Georgia to Miami for a cruise.

The bus was on I-95 near Old St. Augustine Road when the bus driver said gauges on the bus started going crazy.

Photos: 26 family members escape bus before fire

“I was asleep like most everyone else because it was 4 o’clock in the morning,” bus rider Justin McCalla told Action News Jax.

He says the bus turned off and the driver pulled onto the shoulder of the highway.

“He got off and went back there, then came back in and said immediately, ‘Everybody get off the bus. We need to evacuate.’”

He said it was terrifying.

“All of a sudden we look at the back of the bus, and there were flames everywhere,” he said.

The bus driver tried to use a fire extinguisher to put out the flames but they got out of control.

Jacksonville Fire Rescue came and put it out.

“Things like this, you don’t think it will happen to you,” McCalla said.

The bus is considered a total loss but no one was injured.

“We quoted a verse from the bible in Pslams 91 where God says he will command his angels over you,” he said. “I thank God for his angels because he got us off safe.”

The family was picked up by another bus and got to Miami in time to board their cruise.

Cox Media Group