By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
When lightning struck, setting fire to a home south of Bowling Green in the middle of the night last month, the parents expected their three young children to panic.
“I was expecting to have three crazy, screaming, hysterical children,” said Melanie Yarger, of Rudolph.
But instead, Hannah, 9, Nicholas, 8, and Natalie, 6, knew exactly what to do.
“The kids were so calm,” Yarger said. So their mom wrote a letter thanking those who taught her children how to respond – Bowling Green Fire Department.
“Through their visits when Hannah was in kindergarten, we developed our home fire plan (several years ago) and always talked about the ‘safe spot’ and what to do,” she wrote to the department and specifically to Lt. Mike Leestma who heads the school visits.
The lightning struck the home of Curt and Melanie Yarger on March 28 at 12:15 a.m. They know the exact time because the blow knocked the clock off their mantle.
“It was quite a loud boom,” Melanie Yarger said. Immediately, the smoke detectors started going off.
“It was quite a shock,” she said. Her husband ran to see if the smoke alarms were going off just because of the lightning strike. “He flew down the steps,” but quickly released that it wasn’t a malfunction since the house was filling with smoke.
“I grabbed the dog and the kids met me in the hall,” with Hannah holding her siblings’ hands, Yarger said. “They were automatic. They said, ‘we have to go to the safe spot, and call the fire department.’ They had the whole thing down. They were so calm in the chaos.”
Yarger credits the annual visits by the fire department to St. Aloysius School, where their children attend. When their oldest, Hannah, was in kindergarten, she came home talking about the visits and carrying the fire safety coloring book.
“It made my husband and I think about it,” Yarger said.
The lesson was repeated each year when the firefighters returned to reinforce their safety talks.
“It made it a conversation piece. Every year when they came home, we talked about it,” Yarger said.
Since the Yargers live in Rudolph, it was Central Joint Fire District that responded to their home.
“They responded, expecting the worst,” she said. But the home is repairable and no one was hurt.
“I’m happy. I have a house. Everbody is fine.”
Bowling Green Fire Chief Tom Sanderson said his department has several fire prevention officers who spend time in all the schools in the city.
“Their goal is to have the students take that message back home,” he said.
They start with the kindergartners and reinforce the lesson each year. The firefighters stress the importance of learning to test smoke detectors; have two ways out of their homes; how to stop, drop and roll; crawl under the smoke; establish a safe meeting place for family members outside; call 911; and say their address.
The fire stations in Bowling Green are also open for tours to youths, scout troops or adults.
“We always try to accentuate a fire safety message. In this case it paid off,” Sanderson said about the Yarger children.
Sanderson praised Lt. Mike Leetsma, who coordinates the school programs. “He really deserves the credit, along with his fellow educators.”
