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Boy’s quick action averts disaster
PEACE DALE — Even if he doesn’t think so, 13-year-old Alex Melton is a hero. If not for Melton’s quick thinking and responsiveness, this story likely would have an entirely different ending. On the afternoon of March 6, Melton’s grandmother dropped him off in front of his apartment on Meadowbrook Way. The Broad Rock Middle School seventh-grader intended to go on the Internet once he got home, but he could smell something burning, and he heard an alarm going off. Melton quickly went inside to check his apartment, where he lives with his mother, Kerry, and 3-year-old sister, Monae. Once inside, he realized the alarm was coming from inside the apartment next door. “I knocked on the door next door, but nobody was home,” Melton said. “I tried to look inside the windows, but everything was really foggy. There was smoke coming out of the windows on the top floor, so something wasn’t right.” The smoke was caused by a stove fire that started when the stove was accidentally put on self-cleaning mode with a chicken inside. Melton’s next-door neighbor, Lori Silvia, is a co-worker of his mother’s, and both women were working at the time of the fire. After Melton called his mother at work to notify both her and Silvia of the fire, he dialed 9-1-1. A neighbor, Derrick Gaudlap - a volunteer firefighter with the Union Fire District - also saw what was happening and helped Melton knock on all eight doors of the apartment building to make sure everyone was evacuated. Gaudlap checked the upstairs of the smoking apartment to make sure nobody was inside. Fire personnel received the call at 3:21 p.m. and had the apartment cleared within 17 minutes. The unit sustained minor smoke damage, though the stove needed to be replaced. “What Alex did helped save a lot of people,” said Sharon Weick, property manager of Meadowbrook Apartments. “He was alert and looking out for his neighbor, and it helped save what could have been a very tragic situation.” Weick and officials from the South Kingstown Police Department honored Melton during a meeting with Meadowbrook residents last night. According to Weick, the building the Meltons live in has eight units housing more than 20 people. “He recognized the smell and he knew how to react,” Weick said. “He really did save a lot of heartache. We had to have the rugs cleaned, the stove was damaged and the apartment needed to be aired out, but that’s nothing compared to what could have happened. We are very proud of him and thankful for what he did.” For his part, Melton said he was just applying what he had learned in fire safety lessons at school. He said he hasn’t given the incident much thought since it happened. “I thought there was a chance my house would go down, and I wasn’t sure what other neighbors were home,” Melton said. “It wasn’t a huge deal. The stove was burned, but that’s it.” His mother said she was proud of her son, with good reason. “He is a responsible person,” Kerry Melton said. “He was aware of what was going on around him, which I was very glad to see. I’m proud that he was able to handle the situation.” |
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Copyright © 2006 South County Independent. All Rights Reserved.
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