4-Year-Old Honored for Role in New Year’s Fire

Whenever firefighters pay their obligatory visits to schools promoting fire safety, they often leave wondering how much the squirming kids, just eager to see their big red trucks, will remember.

Four-year-old Andrew Quezada remembered a lot. And his memory saved the day.

Firefighters from Fire Station 75 in Mission Hills honored Andrew in front of his San Fernando preschool Wednesday for his quick thinking and bravery at a New Year’s Day family barbecue.

The firefighters, including the boy’s grandfather Eddie Gonzalez, were the same ones who came to the school four months earlier to give a lesson on fire safety.

On New Year’s, about 40 members of Andrew’s extended family had gathered at a house in Hollywood for a celebration. Andrew and two cousins were inside playing, when Andrew smelled smoke and the smoke detector went off.

He went to the next room to investigate.

“I went to go look and saw fire,” he said Wednesday, glancing shyly around at a host of TV cameras, photographers and reporters who squatted down to hear him.

Having spotted the fire, Andrew ran out of the room, slamming the door behind him, then grabbed his two cousins, Elena and Gabriella. All three ran outside, yelling, “Fire! Fire!”

“Everybody was having a good time,” said Luis Quezada, Andrew’s other grandfather, who was at the party. “Suddenly we heard this noise. They came out screaming.”

An adult called the Fire Department after running back into the home and discovering that bedroom drapes had caught fire from a furnace.

Firefighters arrived to quickly put out the flames, with only minor damage inflicted on the home.

Wednesday, 13 preschoolers from St. Mark’s Head Start in San Fernando lined up to climb on a fire engine. Standing proudly at the front of the line, clad in corduroys and a blue sweater and wired with a microphone, was Andrew.

Firefighters later presented him with his own fire helmet and a firefighting coat, reading: “L.A. City Fire Dept. Andrew.”

They also used the opportunity to call for parents to educate their children on smoke detectors and other fire safety issues.

But Andrew wasn’t ready just yet for his new role as a Fire Department spokesman, struggling to shed his firefighting coat and twisting his helmet around backward.

He did, however, clue reporters in on his long-term aspirations: “I want to be a fireman.”