Kids avert tragedy

By Shaun Inguanzo
TWO Springvale primary school students averted a “potential tragedy” when they rescued two elderly residents from a fire last week.
The Springvale Country Fire Authority (CFA) commended the young heroes, who extinguished a hedge fire that threatened to spread to a home in Myrtle Street, Springvale, last week.
Heatherhill Primary School students Lukas Wade, 10, and Andrew Solo, 11, were walking home from school on Wednesday when they noticed smoke wafting from the front lawn of the property.
The pair rushed to the front door of the house, noticing flames coming from the lawn’s hedge, and rang the doorbell until the homeowners came to the door.
“We walked over and saw fire, then went and rang the doorbell twice,” Lukas said.
Andrew said the elderly couple was surprised to see the fire and smoke.
“They got out a hose, they gave it to us and we sprayed water over the fire,” he said.
“It took about half a minute to put it out.”
Andrew admitted he was frightened during the incident as the fire appeared to be spreading.
Springvale CFA leading firefighter Greg Milne praised the boys and said the home was under threat of catching alight if it was not for their efforts.
“They did a fantastic job in taking appropriate action when they noticed the fire and in assisting the residents in extinguishing the fire,” he said.
The cause of the fire has not yet been determined.
Heatherhill Primary School principal Jan Banks said the boys had averted a “potential tragedy”, and the school contacted the CFA after the incident.
Spingvale CFA then visited the school at this week’s assembly to present certificates of appreciation to the boys in front of more than 300 students, parents and staff.
Ms Banks said the school was proud of both Andrew and Lukas.
“It is part of our practice at Heatherhill to make kids aware of the importance of being good citizens and being good community members,” she said.
“Helping the community is part of our culture here, we talk about it all the time.
“The boys showed the initiative to follow up on it.”
For Andrew and Lukas, the attention is unlike anything they have experienced.
“I just felt proud of myself,” Andrew said.
“We just walked home (after the fire) and we were really excited because we put out the fire and we could tell other people about it.”
Lukas said the attention was ‘nice’ but the boys were only doing what they deemed to be right at the time.
“I think it was common decency to do so, seeing the hedge was on fire,” he said.