Schools

Hero school bus driver honored

Bellmore-Merrick board offers high praise for Laron McGravey

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A bus bound for Merrick Avenue Middle School caught fire shortly before 8 a.m. on April 6. Herald Senior Editor Scott Brinton was on the scene.
Scott Brinton/Herald Life

Laron McGravey, the driver who saved a dozen Merrick Avenue Middle School students from a fire that engulfed their school bus last month, was honored by the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District Board of Education at its May 4 meeting.

McGravey works for the Oceanside-based Guardian Bus Company. On April 6, he was driving on Kirkwood Avenue, near the corner of Merrick Avenue, when he smelled smoke coming from the engine.

He stopped the bus and led all of the children to safety down the block.

Soon after, the bus burst into flames. The blaze quickly spread throughout the bus, gutting it. The Merrick Fire Department extinguished the blaze within minutes.

John DeTommaso, who rushed to the scene that day, said on Wednesday that McGravey’s concern for the children’s safety was paramount. “He not only had the bus pulled over and the kids off the bus, he had them down the street,” DeTommaso said. “What he did was amazing and life-saving.”

DeTommaso thanked McGravey, Merrick Fire Department volunteers, Merrick Avenue Middle School staff members and the students for keeping level heads during an emergency.

George Haile, the Central District board president, told McGravey, “There are not enough words to express our gratitude.” The driver, he said, is “an integral part of our Bellmore-Merrick family.”