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Detectors and 7-yr. Old Save Boston Family
By Matt Collette, Globe Correspondent
The Boston Globe
Smoke detectors awoke 7-year-old Jack Gilbride shortly after midnight yesterday. But they didn't rouse his 76-year-old grandfather, who slept on the first floor of their Roslindale home as flames raged through the family's upstairs apartment. Shouting to his father and younger sister to get outside, Jack bolted down the stairs and into his grandfather's apartment.
Now, Jack's family and neighbors are calling him a hero.
``I ran downstairs really quickly,'' Jack said. ``I didn't want to ring the doorbell because I thought that would take too much time, so I just opened the door and shouted.''
Joseph Michaud, an Army veteran, lost an eye during the Korean War and is legally blind. He has had heart problems and spent most of yesterday undergoing tests at a nearby hospital.
Jack's 42-year-old father, John, and 4-year-old sister Theresa escaped unharmed, as did his uncle, Kevin, who lived with Jack's grandfather in the downstairs apartment in the brown, double-decker on Farquhar Street.
The fire started at about 12:40 a.m., when a candle left burning overnight spread flames through the kitchen, said Steve MacDonald, a spokesman for the Boston Fire Department. Power had been cut to the neighborhood Saturday night as NStar workers fought a nearby manhole fire, neighbors said, so the Gilbrides were using the candle for light. The fire caused $100,000 in damage, MacDonald said.
The fire was brought under control in about 15 minutes. Fire crews remained for several hours to ensure the blaze was out.
Jack's mother, Debra, 40, had spent Saturday night in the hospital as a volunteer test subject in a university-administered sleep study and said she knew nothing of the devastating fire until she returned at 6:30 a.m. yesterday finding the home burned, its upper floor destroyed, and her son hailed as a hero.
``He's good in tough situations. He doesn't get nervous,'' she said proudly.
The Gilbrides plan to spend the next few nights in a hotel as they look for an interim place to stay. Neighbors brought linens and clothes to the Gilbrides, who gathered outside their charred home as crews began the lengthy cleanup process. The Red Cross reached out to assist the family, MacDonald said.
Jack said he learned fire safety from his parents and at Holy Name Elementary School in West Roxbury, where he is in the second grade. He said he doesn't consider his actions to be anything more than what anyone would have done.
``I'm just thinking happy stuff because I helped all those people,'' he said. ``I didn't want them to get burned, so I woke them up.''
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Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company
All Rights Reserved
May 25, 2009
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John Rulli Jr. on
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Great story! He should be proud of himself
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Permalink Reply by lmaz on
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We were living in an apartment complex that was next door to an old house owned by an elderly man. On evening the man fell asleep smoking in bed and drunk. My 8 or 9 year old brother grabbed the fire extinguisher, which he had never used or been taught anything about, from the outside wall of the apartment complex and rushed into the house. He put out the fire before the fire department arrived. The house was very smoky; the mattress had been engulfed.
The story didn't hit the media. My parents told him never to do anything so foolish ever again; the firefighters on scene told him he was brave (yada, yada) but that he shouldn't have gone in with all the smoke. The owner of the apartment complex made my parents pay to have the extinguisher recharged. The old man dropped by once to say "thanks" but the rest of his family, who lived with him, never said a word or showed any appreciation. That's how my brother was treated and what's worse is how upset everyone was about how long it took the fire department to show up. This happened in Redondo Beach, California, an urban area. The FD was there in just a few minutes but everyone acted like they were taking too long and talked of complaining, etc.
A man was saved, my brother was brave and saved him and prevented the fire from engulfing the whole house and other structures. It had a positive ending but it was twisted into a negative event by negative people.
Although my brother didn't become a firefighter, he has been a police officer in San Jose, California for nearly three decades. He is a training officer and has been a sergeant for 15 years. He's still rescuing people from themselves and probably still not getting much credit for doing so!
Good going, Jack!! You kept your head, saved your family and deserve a medal for doing it right.
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Permalink Reply by Kirk D. Baughman on
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great story. it sounds good that a seven year old would even think about doing anything like that. just maybe he will be a firefighter when he grows up. i'm sure glad everyone in the home was ok. this shows how dangers candles are when buring them. fire safty.
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Permalink Reply by Padre Pete on
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Jack is getting at least a patch and a letter of commendation from me and my dept. If that catches on he might have one of the worlds great collections. He should be the poster boy for all of us who spend time teaching fire safety to children. He was there and so was Jack.
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Permalink Reply by Mick Shelley on
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Great story, with a great out come.
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