PHELAN, Calif., Nov. 11 (UPI) — A Kindergarten field trip to a fire station helped a California boy save a life after his house caught fire two days later.
5-year-old Nathaniel Stocks was able to help rescue his grandmother and pet chihuahua when a space heater caught fire in his bedroom.
Stocks employed techniques that he learned during a field trip to a local fire station, such as “Stop, Drop and Roll” and touching doors to check for fire, to ensure that he and his grandmother made it to safety.
“I told my nanny what to do,” Stocks told KFSN-TV. “When there’s a fire in your room, and the smoke goes high, you should get down and crawl to your door.”
The San Bernardino County Fire department recognized Stocks for his courage and quick thinking and stressed that cases like this are why firehouses across the country open their doors for school field trips.
“This is the exact reason we do these school tours and stress the importance of being fire safe,” spokesman Jeff Allen told The San Bernardino County Sun.”This young man should be applauded for taking what he learned and applying it to a real-life situation.”
Stocks’ grandmother, Kimberly Ratliff, believes things would have gone much differently had the young boy not been so quick to act.
“No doubt I would have slept through it because I’m a really heavy sleeper,” she toldThe Sun. “I’m really proud of him. He did everything exactly how he learned it.”
