Ask 4-year-old Jacob Dale what a hero is and he'll tell you it's someone who "saves the day."
The word "hero" isn't one thrown around for nothing, but Jacob's family has called him it quite a bit the last few days.
They say Jacob likely saved their lives Sunday when he smelled propane that leaked into the house through a malfunctioning furnace.
Sunday night, Jacob's mom, Kelly, put him to bed at about 9 in their home on Mayfield Road and went back to the living room to watch TV with her half-sister, Sarah Ferrell.
Kelly's husband, Ed, was at work at Mylan and their 1-year-old son was asleep in his crib. Sarah's two kids were sleeping downstairs. Two pet cats milled about.
Sometime between 10 and 11 p.m., Kelly and Sarah started to feel nauseous. Kelly had a terrible headache, but attributed it to her cold.
A few minutes later, Jacob -- who couldn't fall asleep -- padded out of his room.
"He said, 'Mama, there's a terrible stink in my bedroom,' " Kelly recalled. " And it smells like gasoline.' "
Kelly and Sarah didn't smell anything in the living room, but, sure enough, Jacob's room reeked of gas.
Kelly didn't know what to do, so she looked online. The advice was -- get out of the house immediately.
They called 911. Brookhaven volunteer firefighters detected carbon monoxide throughout the house, Kelly said. Some of the worst levels were right next to the baby's room.
Firefighters told them they wouldn't have survived the night if Jacob hadn't alerted them to the gas smell. Instead, all of them escaped unscathed, minus a few headaches. "He saved us all," Kelly said. Jacob said he wasn't really sure why he knew what to do that night. "I just smelled gas," he said. "It was a gas leak. I came out to see Mommy. I smelled gasoline." He's definitely enjoying the role of hero, though -- just like his favorite superheroes, Spiderman and Ironman. "I love it," he said. His mom grinned. "He's amazing. He always has been. To him, it was a big deal, he knew something was wrong," Kelly said.
His grandma, Vicki Lynch, couldn't have been prouder.
"Thank God he wasn't sleepy," she said.
Amerigas service technician Rich Jones said the high levels of carbon monoxide came from two malfunctioning burners on the furnace that didn't light when the other two did.
Kelly said they had just moved into the rental home a few weeks before but had used the furnace without any trouble a few times. The landlord checked it before they moved in. They had a carbon monoxide detector, but it wasn't working properly.
Carbon monoxide doesn't smell, Jones said, but, raw propane was entering the house too, so Jacob smelled that.
He said it could've caused an explosion or, if the family had been exposed to carbon monoxide long enough, they could've died.
Jason Rice, of MECCA 911, said residents should get their furnaces checked and cleaned this time of year. They should also change the batteries in their smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and make sure that both still work.
Brookhaven's fire chief did not respond in time for this report.
Copyright 2012 - The Dominion Post, Morgantown, W.Va.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
