Chase Valiant was in the middle of making an afternoon snack when his day took a dramatic turn.

"I was just making guacamole, going about my day, and I heard a big bang," he said Friday, a day after the incident.

He rushed outside his home, located on a quiet street in Hammonds Plains, N.S.  only to find a school bus engulfed in flames, with thick black smoke permeating the air.

"I was shocked, and I was just thinking, hoping, that everyone had gotten off the bus," he said. 

The bus, which was taki…