JOURNEY INTO FEAR

The Lost Bus recounts fire heroics

- By Lynn Rusk

ON NOVEMBER 8, 2018, a faulty power line ignited the deadliest wildfire in California's entire history.

For two weeks, the Camp Fire tore through Butte County, destroying the town of Paradise and devastating the communities of Magalia and Concow.

The US blaze resulted in the deaths of 85 people and displaced more than 50,000.

Amongst the many individual stories that emerged from this crisis is that of bus driver Kevin McKay and elementary school teacher Mary Ludwig, who navigated a bus carrying 22 school children through a raging inferno to safety.

Despite their differences and their overwhelming concern for their own families, the pair risked their lives, working together to save others.

This story of ordinary heroes has been brought to the screen in The Lost Bus, a film directed by Paul Greengrass, starring Matthew McConaughey as McKay and America Ferrera as Ludwig.

McConaughey, 55, recalls meeting McKay and hearing him recount his experience.

"Me listening to Kevin go through that day, and he told me about three different moments when he felt in his gut that this was not your usual fire," says the Texas-born actor.

"That when he felt in his gut that it's every person for themselves, thinking 'I gotta do what I gotta do'.