Murrieta Fire Chief Presents 5-Year-Old With Life Saver Award

Amidst the complicated matters on Tuesday night’s Murrieta City Council agenda, officials took time to recognize one of the city’s youngest residents for a very important reason.

Murrieta fire Chief Matt Shobert presented 5-year-old Karli LaFever with a Life Saver Award from the Murrieta Fire Department for the swift actions she took the night of Dec. 30, 2013 when her great-grandmother was suffering a medical emergency.

As Patch previously reported, Karli used the 75-year-old woman’s cellphone to call her mother and report that her “Nana was sick” and was crying. Turns out, Jennifer LaFever suffers from diabetes and had dangerously low blood-sugar levels that night while Karli slept over. Karli’s mother, Brianna LaFever, called 911 and Murrieta firefighters were dispatched to the residence.

“It was a rather critical medical emergency and Karli, as a 5-year-old girl, had the knowledge to realize the situation wasn’t  normal,” Shobert said. “...Just an amazing ability to recognize a dangerous situation and quite frankly probably saved her great-grandmother’s life that night.”

In addition to certificates from the Murrieta Fire Department and Murrieta City Council, Shobert presented Karli with a Build A Bear dressed in a firefighter's uniform. 

Four generations of LaFevers were on hand as Karli received the award, including her parents, her grandmother and her great-grandmother, who had been transported by ambulance to a local hospital the night of the incident.