In the early hours of Monday, April 7, Tina Voyd and her three children were jolted out of sleep by the sound of their smoke detector in their South Hill home.
“Basically we had been having problems with a light bulb blowing out of the socket,” she said.
A light fixture above their dinning room table sent a spark onto the table igniting one of her children’s book bags. The fire wasn’t big, but within 15 minutes the whole house was filled with smoke.
The family was able to get out of the house unharmed, which Voyd credits to the family’s awareness and response to the fire to a homework assignment her son Anthony Mitchell, 10, brought home a month ago.
Mitchell is a fifth grader at Hunt Elementary and as part of Central Pierce County Fire and Rescue’s Great Escape Program was assigned to go over an escape plan with his family in the event of a fire.
“It was very important to him,” Voyd said.
And because of the his project the family was prepared.
“I look at it as just a huge blessing because we were all aware,” she said. “I thank God that my son made a point (to do the project) and that the school made the kids do this.”
If they hadn’t gone over a plan and made sure the smoke detectors worked she’s sure they wouldn’t have made it out of the house in time.
Lt. Fred Welcher with Central Pierce Fire and Rescue agreed.
The 30-year veteran was one of the first to respond to the fire. The fire wasn’t very big and only took about a gallon of water to put out, he said, but the smoke over took the house.
“It’s actually one of the fires that kills people the most,” Welcher said. “My gut feeling was that they would been in pretty dire straights (without a plan in place).”
Often times people die from smoke inhalation, not the flames themselves, he said.
Knowing what to do and how to react can be the difference between safety and injury, he said.
Voyd had never gone over an escape plan before.
“I wasn’t one of those people,” she said. “I don’t think people realize it (a fire) can happen.”
But her son was insistent that the family sit down and make a plan.
He found all the smoke detectors in the house, Voyd said, and they checked each one to make sure they were working.
They went over exits and cleared pathways that could be a danger if they were unable to see because of smoke.
Her children had previously left their shoes and book bags on the stairs, but Mitchell pointed they could be a hazard if the family needed to get out of the house quickly.
“He thinks about the safety of his family,” Voyd said.
When the smoke alarm sounded the family was familiar with what to do, because of Mitchell’s project.
“It saved our lives, it really did,” she said.
And it was the first time in a couple of years that Welcher can remember hearing how someone had actually put an escape plan together through the Great Escape Program and was prepared to use it.
“They had everything the way we teach it,” he said. “It was black and white that this works.”
The program started in 1999 and reaches out to about 50 elementary schools in the area every year. The students learn about fire safety, how to be prepared and take the information back to their families to develop a family escape plan.
“It’s something that every parent should do,” Voyd said. “It will be something that I will make sure, no matter where we live, we have a fire escape plan and we go over it.”
Their home still smells of smoke and damage has been done, but if they weren’t prepared it could have been a lot worse, she said.
“We’re just happy with the outcome,” Welcher said. “It’s the outcome that we love to see. Everything just worked out perfect.”
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