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Friday, Nov. 20, 2009

Fort Valley girl saves family from house fire

FORT VALLEY — A 10-year-old Fort Valley girl is credited with saving her family in an early-morning fire Thursday.

The family escaped without injury from the 6:19 a.m. fire at 109 S. Montrose St., said Fort Valley fire Capt. Tony West.

“If it had not been for her action ... there could have been someone overcome by smoke or possibly dead,” West said.

The girl, Vija Robinson, was up first, saw smoke coming out from the laundry room and woke up her mom. The eldest daughter in the family of six was spending the night at her grandmother’s but everyone else was at home asleep when the fire started.

“I’m proud of myself,” Robinson said by telephone. The fourth-grader at Hunt Primary School in Fort Valley said she had learned what to do from firefighters who visited her school.

Latoshia Simon said she’s also proud of her daughter.

“She’s a godsend. She’s very smart anyway. But for her to do that, I just feel like it’s a blessing,” Simon said.

The oldest child, Shaq, 15, was sleeping soundly in the room adjacent to the laundry room when the fire broke out.

“I’m just glad my sister woke me up,” he said. “I gave her a hug a couple of minutes ago when I thought about (what could have happened).”

Ryan Logan, emergency services director for the American Red Cross Central Georgia Chapter, also was impressed with the girl’s response to the fire.

“She was applying what she’d learned in school, which is great,” Logan said.

The family received help from the Red Cross, which has lodged the family temporarily in a Fort Valley hotel.

Although the official cause of the fire has not been determined, West said he suspects an electrical problem. The fire started in, and was pretty much contained to, the laundry room — although flames reached the attic and carport, he said.

The fire created a thick toxic smoke, and the walls, floor and ceiling of the one-story home were covered with a heavy soot, West said.

Robinson’s mother and stepfather, Alando Simon, were renting the home to own.

For West, talking with the girl after the fire was especially gratifying because he and other firefighters teach children in public schools how to respond in a fire.

Also, Logan said the Red Cross targets children for fire safety education. Children generally put into practice what they are taught and often are the ones who in turn teach their parents about fire safety, Logan said.