Friday, July 09, 1999
Girl, 10, calls 911 after fleeing fire
BY SAUNDRA AMRHEIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
SPRINGDALE — Instead of making her regular noon page to her mom after summer school Thursday, 10-year-old Carrera Stewart called 911.
A hot doorknob and a blaring smoke detector prompted her call. A blaze was tearing through the apartment next to hers in Hunter's Glen Apartments off Chesterdale Drive. Carrera ran out of the building, even as the flames began licking her balcony.
No one was injured in the fire, which sent a black column of smoke hundreds of feet into the air, distracting motorists on nearby Interstate 275. Damage was estimated at $65,000.
Carrera's call brought fire companies from Springdale, Sharonville and Butler County's Union Township in time to contain the fire to one apartment, where no one was home.
But in her mother's arms afterward, the girl felt like anything but a hero. “She's really terrified,” said her mom, Terri Stewart.
Carrera had just arrived home from summer school and was waiting for her father to pick her up. Managers at the 382-unit complex called Ms. Stewart at work. Her other daughter was at a full-day summer school.
“She did the right thing,” Ms. Stewart said. “I'm just blessed she's OK.”
The Springdale Fire Department was investigating the cause of the blaze Thursday. The apartment's sole occupant, Erving Jackson, said he was across the complex visiting when a neighbor told him about the fire.
“I thought he was kidding until I walked outside,” Mr. Jackson said. The 56-year-old mover with Planes Moving & Storage did not have insurance on any belongings inside the apartment.
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