DEPUTY, Ind. (WDRB) -- A southern Indiana school district is crediting the efforts of its students and a bus driver for safely getting everyone off a school bus that caught on fire Tuesday afternoon. 

According to Madison Consolidated Schools, bus #37 caught on fire on Bethany Road in Deputy, Indiana Tuesday as kids were going home for the afternoon. 

School bus fire in Madison, Indiana

This image provided by Madison Consolidated Schools dated May 2, 2023, shows one of the district's buses engulfed in flames. Everyone made it off the bus uninjured. 

Deputy is a small community outside of Madison, Indiana. Madison Consolidated Schools said the bus was carrying students from Deputy Elementary School.

"We're extremely proud of how this situation was handled yesterday. Our bus driver was incredible. Our students were rock stars," said Ashley Schutte, the district's communications coordinator. 

Schutte said emergency drills are practiced in school buildings and on school buses in case of situations like this.

"We practice these things with our students and bus drivers in hopes that something like this never happens but yesterday our bus driver was calm, cool, collected. Our students rose to the occasion, evacuated safely, and we're just grateful that everyone was able to get off," she said. 

Schutte said everyone made it home safely and other Madison Consolidated buses came to pick up the students from bus #37. She thanked parents for how they responded. 

"That's not an easy call to receive and they were all very calm, very supportive, and very patient and they trusted our processes and they trusted us to get those kids home safely," Schutte said. 

In a press release from the district Tuesday, Madison Consolidated Schools thanked the "heroic efforts of veteran bus driver Jessie Ritzline and the quick actions of the students on the bus." 

Schutte said Ritzline has been part of the district for years and is a longtime bus driver who has gotten to know generations of students. 

WDRB News requested an interview with Ritzline through the school, but Schutte said Ritzline did not want to speak on camera, saying she wanted the credit of being a hero to go to the kids. 

"Our bus driver is incredibly humble and she is so very proud of those kids," said Schutte. 

Sabra Reffett is a parent of a Deputy student who was on the bus. In a statement to WDRB, Reffett said: "From a parents perspective, getting that phone call yesterday was very scary. Our children ride this bus every day, and you would never think something like this could happen but it did. We are just so thankful that our bus driver Jessie and all the children knew exactly what to do. Jessie Ritzline has been our children's driver for many years and she has always had a place in her heart for all of her bus children. When our daughter finally made it home yesterday evening, she was so collected and calm, because she knew she was safe. With her bus driver and all the past training the school has done with the children they knew exactly what to do and the process they needed to follow. The school teachers and principal were all at the scene which comforted her as well. She even came home from school today talking about how she gets to talk to her school counselor all this week to make sure everything is okay. We are just so blessed to have an amazing bus driver and for Deputy Elementary and its staff for always doing their best for our children." 

First responders including the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office and the Deputy Volunteer Fire Department (which sits right next to Deputy Elementary School) assisted at the scene. 

It's still unknown why the bus caught on fire. The district said the cause is under investigation. 

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