From: Najma Sadeque <najma.sadeque.ns@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Feb 2, 2014 at 5:53 PM
Subject: Fwd: Child hero saves six, dies trying to save grandfather
To: Najma Sadeque <najma.sadeque.ns@gmail.com>
Poverty didn't harden this child; it made him more caring. Also read the last story that gives an idea of the kind of poverty that's engulfing America today.
8-year-old Boy Saves Six People From Fire, Dies Trying to Save His Disabled Grandfather
BY LEONARDO BLAIR , CP REPORTER
January 22, 2014
An 8-year-old boy from Rochester, N.Y., is being praised as a hero after he saved six people from a home fire then tragically died after he went back to the burning home to rescue his disabled grandfather on Monday morning.
Cpl. John Helfer of the Monroe County Sheriff's Office told the Associated Press that young Tyler Doohan was able to save six of the nine people who were sleeping in the single-wide trailer home where they lived in Penfield when the fire began about 4:45 a.m. Doohan's bravery saved the lives of four adults and two children, ages 4 and 6.
Firefighters in a WROC report explained, however, that his selfless actions didn't end there. After saving the six people by alerting them of the fire, Tyler went back to the burning trailer to save his disabled 57-year-old grandfather, Louis Beach, but both of them got trapped and perished in the flames, along with Steven Smith, 54.
"I heard somebody screaming bloody murder from over there. It was bright over there," Andrew Williams, who saw the flames, told WROC.
Other neighbors in the East Avenue Manufactured Home Community said the raging fire mixed with screams for help created a tragic and emotional scene.
"My heart dropped. I was just like, wow. It was so intense I can't believe it happened. I feel like it was a dream," said neighbor Eric Berg.
Firefighters say the home had been deemed unlivable more than once, and with nine people in the trailer it was overcrowded
"The roof had collapsed on the front half of the trailer and one of the individuals was found there, probably on a couch, but there was nothing left to even see if it was furniture," Penfield Fire Chief Chris Ebmeyer told KARE 11. "In the rear, there was a bedroom and the other deceased male was found in a bed. The child was a few feet away," he added.
A news release from Richard Stutzman Jr., interim superintendent of the East Rochester School District where young Tyler attended school, hailed him as a hero.
"With great sadness, the East Rochester School District confirms one of the three victims of an early-morning fire in Penfield was a fourth-grade boy at our school," said Stutzman in the release.
"It is extremely important to remember that, according to emergency personnel, (Tyler) was the person who discovered the fire and tried to wake the eight other people in the residence at the time. In bravely and selflessly giving his own life, he was able to save the lives of six others — and he is truly a hero."
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/21/us/new-york-boy-saves-family-fire/
8-year-old boy rescues 6 relatives from fire, dies trying to save 7th
By Chris Boyette, CNN
January 23, 2014 -- Updated 0143 GMT (0943 HKT)
(CNN) -- In his final moments, 8-year-old Tyler Doohan managed to rescue six people -- including two younger children -- from a burning mobile home in upstate New York, authorities said.
A last-ditch effort, however, to save his disabled grandfather cost the boy his life. His body was found next to his grandfather, whom Tyler considered a best friend.
"It makes me really proud, it really does, but I just want him back," Tyler's mother, Crystal Vrooman, told CNN affiliate WHAM.
Tyler, an East Rochester resident, was staying at the home of relatives in the nearby town of Penfield on Sunday night when he noticed a fire in the single-wide trailer, said Penfield Fire Chief Chris Ebmeyer.
As firefighters and sheriff's deputies responded to 4:45 a.m. emergency call, Tyler was able to wake six other people in the small trailer, including two more children, ages 4 and 6, the fire chief said.
Then Tyler went back into the blaze to help his grandfather, who was disabled and would have been unable to get out of the home on his own, Ebmeyer said.
"By that time, the fire had traveled to the back of the trailer," said Ebmeyer. "Unfortunately they both succumbed to heat and smoke."
The pair were found together on a bed in the back room. It appeared that the boy was trying to lift his grandfather from the bed when he was overcome by the smoke and fire, the fire chief said. Tyler and his grandfather were like best friends, Vrooman said.
An online fundraising campaign on YouCaring.com had raised more than $28,000 as of Wednesday for Tyler's funeral and his family.
Another relative was found dead in a front room, although his exact relation to Tyler was not clear.
Earlier, fire officials had released a mistaken version of the incident, where the grandfather's and uncle's locations were switched, due to incorrect information provided by a family member.
Tyler's mother said the boy broke away from his aunt outside the burning trailer and ran back inside to try to save his grandfather.
"All I could think about is how he couldn't breathe," Vrooman told WHAM.
She added: "I'm just so grateful that he went with people that he loved. He didn't go alone."
The cause of the blaze is still under investigation but believed to be accidental.
The conditions of the six survivors were not immediately available.
Ebmeyer said the trailer had no working smoke detector. He said that with so many people in one small mobile home, one alarm could have easily woken everyone in time to escape.
There was at least one space heater inside the trailer, the fire chief said.
Several pets -- including dogs, cats, a rabbit and hamsters -- also died in the fire, Ebmeyer said.
The Penfield Fire Company -- a volunteer unit -- intends to create a public service initiative to spread awareness and get smoke detectors out to the public, he said.
Meanwhile, Richard Stutzman Jr., interim superintendent of the East Rochester School District, where Tyler attended fourth grade, issued a statement:
"In bravely and selflessly giving his own life, he was able to save the lives of six others -- and he truly is a hero."
East Rochester’s Tyler Doohan convinced his mother to let him spend the night with his grandfather when the fire broke out early Monday morning sometime after 4 am. There were nine people total in the trailer, and authorities believe Tyler was able to help wake up and lead six family members out of the fire, including two 4- and 6-year-old children.
Once outside the trailer, family members say Tyler realized his grandfather had not made it out, and he went back inside to save him. Firefighters responded to the emergency around 4:45 am, but Tyler and his grandfather were both found dead inside the trailer, along with the boy’s uncle.
“It makes me really proud, it really does. But I just want him back,” Tyler’s mother, Crystal Vrooman told local ABC affiliate WHAM.
“All I could think about is how he couldn’t breathe,” she added. “I’m just so grateful that he went with people that he loved … He didn’t go alone.”
The six family members who made it out of the trailer alive were transported to a local hospital, where they were treated for minor injuries.
“The roof had collapsed on the front half of the trailer and one of the individuals was found there, probably on a couch, but there was nothing left to even see if it was furniture,” Penfield Fire Chief Chris Ebmeyer said to the Democrat and Chronicle. “In the rear, there was a bedroom and the other deceased male was found in a bed. The child was a few feet way.”
“He saved those other six people,” he said.
Along with Tyler’s relatives, the trailer was also home to numerous animals. According to CNN, several dogs, cats, hamsters, and a rabbit died in the blaze.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation, though officials speculate that it could have been caused by an electrical problem.
Tyler’s actions have inspired the local community, and the interim superintendent of the fourth grader’s school district said the boy “bravely and selflessly” gave his own life.
“I just got an email from one of our staff members, who when they heard Tyler had gone back in, or continued to help his grandfather get out of the burning building, they were not surprised at all,” Richard Stutzman told WHEC Rochester.
“That’s the type of young man he was, and in my heart and the heart of East Rochester, he’s a true hero.”
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/01/31/roch-j31.html
Funeral for 8-year old hero
By Jason Melanovski, 31 January 2014
Hundreds attended the funeral for an eight-year old boy on Wednesday who perished in a fire outside of Rochester, New York while attempting to save his handicapped grandfather. It is believed that the boy, Tyler J. Doohan, was killed while trying to reach his grandfather, Steven D. Smith 54, who used a wheelchair after losing part of one leg due to diabetes. Also killed in the fire was the owner of the trailer and Doohan's step-great-grandfather, Louis J. Beach, 57.
The young boy was staying with his grandfather during the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Holiday in a single, wide trailer home in the suburb of Penfield along with eight other people when the fire broke out in the early morning. After the fire ignited, Tyler woke six other residents of the home, including two other children, allowing them to escape the rapidly expanding fire with only minor injuries. After fleeing the home, survivors and neighbors witnessed Tyler run back into the trailer to rescue his grandfather and Beach. Tyler's body was found on a bed along with his grandfather's in the back of the trailer.
The tragic story has gained national and international media attention. Two online fund campaigns have succeeded in raising over $57,000 for Tyler's mother, Crystal Vrooman. However, while the national and international media outlets have used Tyler's heroic actions and subsequent death to pull the heart-strings of their audiences, they have largely remained silent on the shameful social conditions which caused the entirely preventable fire in the first place.
Neighbors report that the trailer home, which was located in the East Avenue Manufactured Home Community just outside Rochester, had fallen into disrepair as Tyler's grandfather, owner Louis Beach, was unable to afford repairs and maintenance. Beach, whose neighbors report was friendly and always willing help others in the community, was also known for letting friends and relatives stay in the home when they needed a place to stay. One neighbor reported that one of Beach's other adult grandchildren and boyfriend had started living there recently until they “got back on their feet.”
In addition, during the bitterly cold winter months in Upstate New York the trailer lacked gas heating, forcing the family to heat the trailer with as many as eight electric space heaters at a time. It is believed an electrical issue with one of the space heaters caused a blanket covering one of Tyler's cousins to ignite. The home also did not contain a fire alarm.
After the fire, the Penfield Fire Department reported an increase in trailer fires in the past year as more people turn to space heaters to heat their homes during cold spells. In recent years, the United States has become the world's largest importer of electric space heaters as gas utility costs rise and people struggle to heat their homes. The large majority of electric space heaters are produced for export in factories in China.
Electric space heaters are many times more dangerous than central gas heating and are prone to sparking fires due to overloaded circuits, damaged wires or defective construction. Trailers, like the one Tyler was staying in, are also at the same time poorly insulated and highly flammable due to their tight metal box-like construction, making them highly susceptible to rapidly spreading fires.
Prior to his death, Tyler had lived a transient life, like many children living in poverty, often changing school districts and bouncing from home to home with his mother or staying with relatives. According to a recently released report by the Rochester Area Community Foundation, Rochester is home to the fifth-highest level of child poverty in the United States, surpassed only by Detroit, MI, Hartford, CT, Cleveland, OH and Dayton, OH. In the greater Rochester region, which includes six surrounding counties, 19 percent of children live in poverty.
While poverty in the region is often spoken of as an issue unique to Rochester's inner-city, the study also showed that over 40 percent of the region's children in poverty reside in the suburbs. Penfield, NY, where the fire took place, is often stereotyped as a “wealthy” suburb free from poverty and homelessness. However, these same suburbs are dotted with areas with people living in manufactured home communities alongside major roadways similar to one where Tyler was killed.
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Media Press Pakistan " group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to media-press-pakistan+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
No comments:
Post a Comment