February 28, 2007
Albany - A four year old little boy playing with a space heater, sets his house on fire. Minutes later, the entire home ablaze, that same child made sure his baby sister was out of harms way.
A home without a central heater, became way too hot this morning after 4 year old Devin Johnson started playing with the space heater in his room. "Big," says Devin. A big fire, growing out of control.
Fire Chief James Carswell says, "The 4 year old actually owned up to starting the fire and we're just very fortunate nobody got seriously injured."
Although Devin's father was hurt, receiving burns to his face and arms, he should be okay. But if it weren't for Devin's quick thinking his little sister may not have made it out. He says, "Me and her were in the living room."
Devin says it was easy to get Shyla out of the house, he just opened the door. Carswell says, "He knew the fire was getting hot and he got away from it. Obviously, we're fortunate enough that everything went right in the sense that no one got more seriously injured but it could have been a lot worse."
But it's still bad enough for this family. Devin and Shyla are two of six children. The house is a total loss. "We've had some very serious consequences with space heaters and it seems like every year we go through the same thing and you place a space heater in a room obviously bad things can happen if you don't watch it and keep children away from it," says Carswell.
As for little Devin, he's learned a very important lesson, he won't be playing with space heaters anymore.
The temperature around South Georgia is expected to drop slightly this weekend. Remember, if you are going to use a space heater never leave it unattended.
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