Anonymous - 5-14-2005 at 02:09 PM
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/4487889/detail.html
Hero Remembers Lesson From Kindergarten
May 13, 2005
SAN DIEGO -- An 8-year-old boy who alerted his sleeping family to a house fire in the nick of time was presented with an award for his heroism Friday.
Jose Franco and his family were staying in a house in Baja for a motorcycle-riding vacation. The vacation turned horrific, however, when the house
they were staying in caught fire in the middle of the night, possibly because of some lighted candles.
Franco was the first to smell the flames.
"It was pretty smokey, very smokey," Franco said. "I could see toward the back of the house, the flames."
"He woke up to the crackling of the flames," said Charlie Lewis, of the Lemon Grove Fire Dept. "He woke up, he woke up his brothers and nephews and he
got them all out before the propane tank released and nobody got injured."
"I realized that if it weren't for him, there's a good chance we wouldn't be here right now," said Franco's father, Jose Franco Sr.
Franco Jr. told NBC 7/39 he remembered what firefighters told him in kindergarten -- stop and crouch. Even so, the family nearly burned their feet as
they exited the burning home.
"Nobody got injured and that's what we're all thankful for," Lewis said. "He truly is a hero."
Franco is a third-grader at Golden Avenue Elementary School. He received a plaque from the fire department commemorating his heroism and new
motorcycle gear donated from local merchants.