Ten year old hero alerts folks of fire

Norwich, Conn. (WTNH) - After a fire broke out at a four story home in Norwich, it took the bravery of a 10-year-old boy to get everyone out safely.

People were asleep on every floor in the middle of the night when the fire started on Jan.4. Despite all the damage, everyone made it out alive, after being alerted by 10-year-old Elan.

It was a frightening fire, but Elan didn't let it scare him . His grandmother lives on the ground floor. She discovered the flames and woke him up.

"She told Elan to go upstairs and tell the people to call 911, and so Elan went upstairs and called them, and woke everybody up and then they knocked on all the doors to make sure everybody was out," says Alana Sims-Clerkley of Norwich.

His bravery may have saved the lives of at least five other people asleep upstairs. The flames quickly engulfed the house. The scariest part of the fire came in trying to get Elan's disabled grandmother out. Neighbors tried to help.

"When we were trying to get her over here, she has an oxygen tank, and the oxygen tank blew up, and the flames came across the street. It was really bad," says Sims-Cleckley.

Amazingly there were only minor injuries. The house was the main casualty. Fire crews had trouble getting enough water to put on the flames.

"Well, this is an older section of the city with smaller mains. Fire this size, you need a lot of water. And we know there are water supply problems up here," says Chief Kenneth Scandariato of the Norwich Fire Department. "We did an evaluation a couple years ago and we just call for greater alarms to assist us with that."

Unfortunately they couldn't save the house, and a few hours later the demolition crews arrived to tear it down before it fell down by itself.

The Red Cross will help everybody find somewhere else to live because there will be nothing left to come home to. The Fire Chief says this house has to come down for safety reasons, even though they have not yet figured out what caused the fire, so for now the official cause is undetermined.