Alexandria Boy Honored For Putting Out Fire In Apartment Building

ALEXANDRIA, VA—Seventh grader Ronal Velasquez didn't think he would put to use the skill of putting out a fire he learned in class. But the George Washington Middle School student was glad he did.

This week, the Alexandria Fire Department honored Velasquez with the Citizenship Heroism Award for extinguishing a kitchen fire in his apartment in January.

"I do not believe many kids his age would have the courage to act the way he did," Alexandria Fire Department Capt. John Silverwood told Alexandria City Public Schools. "Ronal’s actions prevented further damage to his apartment, if not something worse."

The boy had been playing a video game when a pan his mom was cooking with caught fire, ABC7 reported. His mom was about to throw water on it, but the boy stopped her after remembering pouring water on a grease fire could make it worse. He quickly decided to use an extinguisher, wanting to keep his mom safe and save the apartment and building from burning. Velasquez never used a fire extinguisher before, but that didn't stop him from running out of the apartment unit to find one.

Back in his kitchen, the instructions from Sybil Currie-Boyd's family and consumer science class went to use. Velasquez told ABC7 he used the P.A.S.S. technique: pull, aim, squeeze, sweep. Using the extinguisher, he put out the fire within seconds. On top of that, he made sure his mom got out safely, earning praise from his teacher and the fire department.

"By the time the fire department arrived, the fire was out," Velasquez told ACPS. "I just remember them saying 'Thank you very much. You did our job today.'"