Posted on 01/07/2007 6:44:54 AM PST by devane617
CAMBRIDGE, Ill. - A teenager is being hailed as a hero for saving his aunt from a fire at their house, but he lost his own life when he went back into the burning building to search for the family's two cats, authorities say.
Seth A. DeShane, 14, was pronounced dead late Thursday at the family home, which was destroyed in the fire.
"He really saved his aunt," said the Rev. Kris Dietzen, pastor at Cambridge Lutheran Church. "He woke his aunt up and told her the Christmas tree was on fire.
"He got her out of the house. She thought he (Seth) was behind her, but he went back inside."
Dietzen said that when Seth's aunt realized the boy had gone back inside, she tried to get back in herself, but by then the smoke was so thick and the fire so intense, she had to leave the house.
"She ran to a neighbor's farm, and they proceeded to call 911," Dietzen said.
The fire is being blamed on malfunctioning lights on the Christmas tree on the first floor, Chief Edward Bole of the Cambridge Fire Department said. The front half of the two-story home was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived.
Condolences to Seth's aunt and remaining family and friends.
My parents were always very clear on this. Saving human life is one thing. Saving pets and property is another. Unless a human life is at stake, never run into a burning building.
It's horrifying he lost his life in this way. RIP.
Year after year lighted real trees go up in flames. People just don't learn.
Yeah, you really have to take them down shortly after Christmas. By this time, they would be very dry and a real fire hazard.
As an individual, a child will make many choices, and some very bad ones. However, it is important for parents to preempt choices of high risk and put the possible reward into perspective.
This is the classical "If your friends jumped off a cliff, would you do it, too?", question. In this case, a warning that while acting based on peer pressure feels good, it may result in terrible harm for a transitory feeling. A parent needs to express that equation to a child before the actual situation presents itself. Just to give them a chance to make the right decision.
However, this is more than just hypothetical instruction, it can also show a very practical lesson in the dangers of fire.
One such, given by an elementary school teacher, was to show how dangerous a fire can be by what *cannot* be seen, that is, toxic gases.
They first explained about carbon dioxide as representing any kind of invisible gas that cannot be breathed. Then they took a jar with a clean straw coming out of it, and added water and a few alka-seltzer. They asked a student volunteer to exhale, then inhale the out rush of CO2 from the straw, then describe what it was like.
He did so in surprised detail, and the teacher asked him how long he could have walked through a burning house after having inhaled something like that. He said he couldn't, at all.
It was a good lesson on how what you can't see can hurt you and a danger of fire. And this, the teacher pointed out, is just *one* of the dangers of fire.
Since I saw the burning scotch pine video last year, I've sworn off having REAL live Christmas trees.
Hmmm. I wonder if we will see someone give this kid a Darwin award or not?
What a sad story. Prayers for the family at this difficult time.
Having been in the Navy, I know exactly what you mean about fire in closed spaces...
I definitely don't think kids get enough fire training.
Additionally, most kids just plain don't respect fire. I know I didn't until I burnt down an entire field...
By the way, I don't think this is at all a "friend jumped off a cliff" analogy.
My burning down a field is a "if your friend jumped off a cliff" situation.
Kids become attached to their animals just as powerfully, and often more so than adults do. This is an emotional action based on love I would guess, not an a classic risk anlaysis.
Often, when people do things like this, it may not even be a risked based thought process, just "something I have got to do".
Soldiers throwing themselves on grenades, pilots steering their crashing planes into uninhabited areas, people jumping into icy waters or, as in this case, running into burning buildings are not, in my opinion, based on classical logical components the way one might think.
If you analyze their actions, they are, for the most part, simply foolhardy or illogical.
I do see exactly the point you make, and agree on a level.
However, when you factor in the love a man feels for his wife or son, or a soldier feels for a buddy, or...a child for his dog or cat...they understand at some level, that there are things that mean more to themselves than life itself.
Such as love or responsibility.
I would hope not. I don't think he deserves one. I'm sure someone will, though.
Ah well. That's just the way it is sometimes...
I know. I've been using ours as a fire starter in our fire place.
It works great, kind of like lighting gasoline with attached kindling!
Prayers for the family.
ditto. God bless this kid's family.
Heh...sounds both entertaining and educational...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.