Smell of Smoke Awakens Boy, 11; He Saves Family

An 11-year-old Long Beach boy saved the lives of his family by getting them out of their burning house Sunday morning, Fire Department officials said.

The boy, Rashad Bilal, awoke in a back bedroom when he smelled smoke shortly before 6:30 a.m. He ran from room to room, waking his mother, three sisters, a brother and a friend’s infant daughter, for whom his mother was caring, said Long Beach Fire Department spokesman Bob Caldon.

By the time Rashad woke his mother, Rajeeyah Varney, the smoke was so thick that she could barely see, Caldon said. Rashad ran across the street and asked a neighbor to phone for help.

The family had installed a smoke detector, but it did not work because there was no battery in it. Fire officials said that if the young boy had not awakened his family members, all of them might have died in their beds from the thick smoke.

Rashad was in stable condition Sunday at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Long Beach. His sisters and brother and the infant girl, ages 1 to 18, were treated at the scene.

Faulty wiring in a portable electrical heater caused the blaze that destroyed most of the 50-year-old wooden house, said Caldon. The Red Cross placed the family in a hotel until other housing can be found.