DETROIT – A 13-year-old boy that jumped two stories to escape a house fire got the chance to thank firefighters who taught him about fire safety at school.
The fire started at about 3:45 a.m. on March 31 in the 2000 block of West Euclid Avenue. A woman in her 30s, her 13-year-old son, and a 5-day-old infant were all taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation. A teenage girl who lives nearby ran to help. She was also taken to hospital for smoke inhalation.
Thomas Locke, the 13-year-old boy, was trapped on the 2nd floor of the house. He was unable to go downstairs so he was forced outside on the 2nd floor. Everyone outside of the house eventually convinced him to jump.
"I had seen smoke and I went to the top of the steps to see if anybody was up there," said Joseph Harris, who ran to help from the bottom floor. "I just told him to jump. They were hollering for him to jump. I told him to, 'Jump! Man!"
The teen suffered some scrapes and bruises. He was at an awards ceremony Tuesday at the Detroit Public Safety Headquarters and was able to thank the firefighters who helped him even before the fire started.
"I decided to crawl on the floor and feel for the window," Locke said. "I broke the window with my hand which is how I got these stitches."
Just one month before the fire, Lt. Theresa Halsell was at Woodward Academy, hosting an assembly on fire safety.
"I've been that fireman at the fire, pulling a child out of a fire," Halsell said. "If I can do something that prevents that, that's what it's all about."
Locke wrote a letter to Halsell and Fire Commissioner Eric Jones read it aloud at the ceremony.
"Although I received a lot of media attention for jumping out of a window, you are the one that should be recognized," Locke said in the letter.
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