A heroic story unfolds in a fire that consumed a Grants Pass home leaving nothing to salvage.
13 year old Robert Brooks just happened to be in the right place at the right time, when he risked life and limb to save four people in a home that was burning down around them.
Meet Robert Brooks. “I wasn’t really thinking I just did it,” says the thirteen year old.
The young boy, a family friend, was staying over at the home on Fruitdale Drive in Grants Pass, when the oldest daughter accidentally caught a dress on fire. “She tried using the lighter and lit a dress on fire and then threw it under the bed. She came out yelling their rooms were on fire.”
He says both the girl’s mother and younger brothers, ages 2 and 4, were sleeping at the time. “I ran in and got Kemo he was laying over the fire so I got him, then I kicked Katie’s, the mom’s, door. It just crumbled, it was so hot.”
But they weren’t safe yet. In an effort to rescue his new bike and the others…. Brooks used it to plow through the sliding glass windows. “I used the handles and it shattered the glass, and that’s how we all got out.”
While the home could not be saved, thanks to young Brooks, who is now being called a hero, an entire family still lives to tell the tale.
The family lost everything in the blaze. A bank account is now set up for donations at any Evergreen Federal Bank branch. Make all checks payable to Katie Cox.
Also, Fruitdale Market in Grants Pass and Beldini’s Restaurant in Merlin are taking items. The youngest child is size 3T-4T boy, the second 4T-5T boy, the oldest 7-8 girl. The mother needs 20-22 or 1X and the father 38-40 or 2X.
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