10-year-old girl’s quick action may have saved family in early-morning fire
By Carlos E. Castañeda
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OAKLEY, California (KPIX) — A 10-year-old girl’s quick action likely saved the lives of her family members in Oakley when their house caught on fire early Wednesday morning.
The Contra Costa County Fire Protection District said firefighters responded at 3:29 a.m. after callers reported flames in the garage area of a home on West Cypress Road near Duarte Avenue. When firefighters arrived, they found heavy fire and downed active power lines, Con Fire Battalion Chief Jeff Burris said.
“We arrived on scene to have the front of the house on fire, with the power lines between the pole and the house had dropped onto the ground and were actively arcing, hindering our initial fire attack,” said Burris.
All the occupants had safely evacuated before firefighters arrived, thanks to 10-year-old Elizabeth Morgan, who woke up when the power in the house went out and saw the flames, setting her in action to wake the members of her family.
“The power went out in the house and when it went out, she freaked out, looked out the window to kind of see what was going on, seeing the flames, started yelling at everybody in the house, waking all of us up,” said her mother, Nena Morgan. “She is our hero,”
Elizabeth managed to wake up the four adults and two other children in the house to escape the flames.
“When I woke up, I could just see smoke billowing through the house,” said Nena Morgan. “I was sound asleep in bed with my husband. I don’t know what would have happened if Elizabeth wasn’t awake.”
The family’s two dogs and a roommate’s cat died in the fire, while the family lost virtually all their possessions.
Firefighters believe the fire started on the porch of the house, but the cause of the fire had not yet been determined as of Wednesday afternoon.
The Red Cross was called to assist the displaced residents.
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