AURORA, Ill.--Ever wonder if you could be brave? Ever question whether mom is always right or if school lessons apply to real life?
Well, consider 7-year-old Kiairra Cannon.
Last week, Kiairra's dad bought her the Bratz brand television set she's been wanting. The Bardwell School first-grader was so excited about the tiny TV, she couldn't wait to play video games all night.
But mom said she needed to leave the TV upstairs. It was time for bed.
"She wanted to sleep up with the TV," said Kiairra's mom, Jamie Scribner. "I'm glad she listened. If she hadn't, we'd probably be dead up in here."
Around 2 a.m. Friday, a small fire started under Kiairra's bedroom on the first floor of the house in the 700 block of Hamilton Avenue. Although the smoke detectors in the house didn't go off, Kiairra woke up.
"I smelled it first; then after I woke up I saw it," she said.
Kiairra isn't always the easiest person to rouse, according to her family.
"Sometimes it takes a while to get her up in the morning," said her dad, Antron Cannon, who was at work on the overnight shift when the fire started.
But a few weeks earlier, an Aurora firefighter had visited Mrs. Hopp's first-grade class at Bardwell. Kiairra learned how to "stop, drop and roll." She learned about giving any matches you find to a grown-up. And she learned about getting out of a house when there's smoke.
She knew what to do.
"I used my mind," Kiairra said, smiling. "I used my brain."
Kiairra screamed for her mom, who tried to put the fire out with an extinguisher and her foot -- which suffered second-degree burns.
Scribner, Kiairra and her 4-year-old brother, Latron Cannon, all got out of the house safely, but watched as the fire consumed the two-story house.
"I'm thankful and grateful (firefighters) got here as quick as they did," Scribner said. "But it hurt watching it all burn up."
The house was a total loss. According to Antron Cannon, the fire may have been started by his young son playing with matches. At this point, the family is not sure if insurance will cover their loss.
Still, Scribner shudders at what might have been if Kiairra had insisted on sleeping on the second floor next to her TV, which was destroyed along with most of the family's possessions.
"I'm grateful I'm not going to a funeral or being buried myself," Scribner said.
So, yes, listen to mom. School does come in handy. And you can have pigtails and still be brave.
Copyright 2006, Chicago Sun-Times Inc.
