Feb. 26--When Max Foster headed home Saturday night from her grandmother's house across the street, she planned to watch a movie on Netflix and go to bed. But instead, the 13-year-old found an electrical fire that, without her quick action, would have destroyed her family's home.
Max and her twin sister, Perizat, had been at their grandmother's house with their parents, but Max decided to go home to watch Read It and Weep, a Disney film about a teen who turns famous overnight when her diary is published.
When she walked into the house on B Avenue in Lake Oswego about 10:30 p.m., she went upstairs and into her room.
"Then I noticed some weird smoky smell," she said.
She unplugged everything in her room then went to check the other rooms.
In Perizat's room, smoke was coming from the ceiling where faulty wiring in a light had started an electrical fire. Small flames flickered on her stuffed animals.
"At first, I was freaking out," she said. "I have never in my life seen real fire except little campfires."
Max ran back to her grandmother's house and called 9-1-1. "After that, I remembered to keep calm and stay positive like they always tell you," she said. "So I focused on good thoughts and getting the living things out."
While the girls' grandmother, Glenda Rice, tried briefly to put out the flames, Max and Perizat grabbed the family's guinea pig, Dumpling, and four cats, Igmatz, Gracie, Dexter and Dibi.
If Max hadn't discovered the fire when she did, the result would have been much worse than the estimated $45,000 in damage to the attic, roof and floor, according to Gert Zoutendijk, Lake Oswego deputy fire marshal..
It took firefighters only three minutes from the time of the call to arrive at the 1,900-square-foot 1930s bungalow, which is three blocks from the station, but even as they arrived, smoke was thickening and moving lower into the house.
"Just one more minute longer, and this fire would have been way worse and more intense," said Lt. Brian McVicker, one of the first firefighters to arrive. "We are very pleased that we arrived here when we did."
Etta Foster, the girls' mother, said she was grateful that Max had acted with a level head. Without her, the family would have lost photographs, valuable Navajo rugs, and, of course, their pets.
With all the excitement, Max didn't get to watch her movie Saturday, but she said, like the character in her movie, she's turned into something of a star herself.
"There's a lot of TV channels coming up to me," she said. "It's kind of cool."
-- Emily Fuggetta
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Copyright 2012 - The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.
