A brave P7 girl whose quick thinking alerted firefighters to a fire in a block of flats was rewarded with a fire station tour.
According to firefighters, Barnhill Primary pupil Melissa MacLeerie’s persistence in getting to the bottom of a beeping noise prevented a small fire escalating into a more serious blaze.
Melissa was at her Aunt Christine’s flat in Broughty Ferry just before Christmas when she heard the alarm upstairs.
Christine said: “We had been out to get my prescription and when we came back she said ‘Can you hear that noise?’ I’ve got terrible hearing but I can lip read.”
Melissa insisted on investigating where the noise was coming from and she and her aunt went into the stairwell.
“We went out in the hallway and it smelled of smoke,” the 11-year-old said.
“My Auntie Christine went upstairs and she was knocking on their doors. I went and got my coat and we rang 999. We waited outside until the fire people got there.”
Watch manager Fraser Johnston, from Kingsway East station, was one of the firefighters on the scene. He praised Melissa’s actions.
“We were turned out at 1.18pm to a report of a fire in a dwelling. On arrival we met Melissa and her auntie and they were able to give us information on why they called and where the fire was.
“There was smoke issuing from the property but we couldn’t get a response so we ended up breaking the door down.”
A team wearing breathing apparatus were sent in to investigate and luckily the resident was not in at the time. Firefighters quickly extinguished the fire.
Mr Johnston said: “The actions taken by Melissa on that day essentially prevented a routine fire incident escalating into a serious fire which could have resulted in loss of the building or loss of life. She was persistent and brave, making sure her auntie was going to listen.”
Melissa and her classmates had taken part in the Safe Taysiders scheme only months before the fire.
Mr Johnston said: “The programme is run in collaboration with the ambulance and police for children in the latter years of primary school.
“They are given safety advice and run through a few scenarios and how to cope.”
In recognition of her actions Melissa was given a tour of Kingsway East fire station where she got to wear a firefighter’s uniform and help extinguish fires.
She was then presented with an area manager’s certificate of recognition.
Christine said: “We are all very proud of her. She was actually frightened and I said ‘Only for you the whole place would have been up.’
“We came back at the right time, we were only in about 15 minutes.”