Quick thinking kid gets everyone out safely
The first ever Citizen Excellence Award from the Selkirk Fire Department has been granted to Lennox Campbell. Lennox is a ten-year-old from Selkirk whose quick actions last summer ensured that he, his siblings and his dog all got out of a house fire safely.
The fire took place on the morning of July 28 in the middle of summer vacation and the family was in the process of moving.
“I was over at the new apartment doing a walkthrough and signing papers. The kids were at home sleeping because it was early in the morning and my partner was at work. The kids called me at about quarter to ten in the morning. They said that the house was on fire. They were wondering where we were because they forgot that I was going to the apartment and that their dad was at work. They said that the house was on fire and that they had gotten out,” said Ashley Ledwos, Lennox’s mother.
Lennox was home with his siblings — 14-year-old Jackson and six-year-old Hendrix — as well as their dog Lucky.
“I got up and the fire alarms were going off,” said Lennox.
After smelling smoke and going immediately to his parent’s room and finding them not there, he went to find out what was going on which was when he found the fire.
“I turned the corner and there was a fire on the stove,” said Lennox.
He then immediately realized that it was an emergency and started calling for his siblings who both came to him from their rooms in other parts of the home which were farther from the smoke detectors.
Lennox was then very brave as he crossed through the room with the fire to get their dog before he, his siblings, and the dog left the home.
Once they were outside they started calling for help and their neighbours called the fire department for them.
Lennox’s mom got to the home at this point and all three of her children were out of danger though shaken up.
“I came from the apartment to the house, and I thought that maybe it had just been a small fire that I could put out with a fire extinguisher or some water. When I opened up the door, the kitchen was fully engulfed in flames, the entire kitchen. The house was full of smoke already. I got the kids into the vehicle and I moved the vehicle,” she said.
The local RCMP and the Selkirk Fire Department then got to the home and were able to put out the fire.
Thanks to Lennox’s quick actions the first responders didn’t have to rescue any family members because all were safely outside.
Once the emergency situation had passed the cause of the fire was determined.
“It was deemed that it was an electrical fire in the kitchen. It started in the kitchen outlet inside the wall and burnt outward. Then, because I had boxes everywhere because I was moving. They caught fire and, of course, everything went wrong,” said Ledwos.
Lennox credits his quick thinking to the fact that his parents made sure to discuss what to do in an emergency fire situation with him and his siblings in advance so they all knew what to do.
Ledwos explained that fire safety talks are a regular topic in their home. Because there were multiple floors in the home they lived in, they had discussions about evacuation plans depending on what floor of the home they were on and where to meet outside. She said that for her family, safety discussions aren’t just about fires but that they regularly speak about being safe in a variety of situations.
Fortunately, the family having these conversations meant that the kids knew exactly what to do, however, the fire did cause a lot of damage because of heat and smoke damage.
“We’re good. We moved to that apartment. We had to start over though. We lost a lot of our belongings. Some of it we were able to salvage but not everything,” said Ledwos.
Lennox said that it felt pretty good to receive the Citizen Excellence Award and his mom said she was very proud.
