A 12-year-old girl rushing to school woke her stepfather just minutes before a fire raced through their Southwest Baltimore rowhouse today, unknowingly saving her family from being trapped in the blaze.
Lakala McCloud, a sixth-grader at Diggs Johnson Middle School, was late for morning classes and hurried to tell her stepfather, Brian Kelly, 19, that she was leaving. She grabbed her books and dashed out the front door of 352 S. Smallwood Street.
Five minutes later, Mr. Kelly walked downstairs and found the kitchen ablaze.
"If Lakala didn't go to school and wake everybody up, we all would be dead," a thankful Mr. Kelly said as he and family members huddled in a store-front doorway, across the street from where firefighters were dousing the burning embers.
"I've never been in a situation like that before, so I didn't know what to do," Mr. Kelly said. "I rushed back upstairs."
Mr. Kelly woke up five other family members, three of whom made it out the front door safely. His girlfriend, Valerie Smith, 29, and his stepson, Devon McCloud, 11, were forced to leave by a second-story bedroom window at the front of the house.
As smoke billowed from the window, Ms. Smith and Devon dangled from the sill and then let go, falling into the arms of family members.
Ms. Smith and Devon were treated at the scene for smoke inhalation, but did not go to the hospital, police said. Devon apparently suffered an asthma attack because of the heavy smoke.
"It was real smoky. You could hardly see . . ." said Alan Green, 20, another resident of the house. "I'm just glad we could get everybody out."
Family members said Anthony Wilkes, 25, and Donyell Clarke also were in the house when the fire started.
Shift Commander Joseph R. Dillon said the one-alarm fire began about 8:40 a.m. in the kitchen. Flames burst out the back of the building, setting fire to an adjacent rowhouse, which was vacant.
The two-story brick rowhouse where the family lived suffered heavy damage, but the fire was under control by 9:30 a.m.
Officer Chris Cheuvront of the Southwestern District said the cause of the fire was accidental. He said the oven had been left on all night to heat the rowhouse, and clothes draped over the appliance ignited. Fire investigators estimated that the fire caused $57,000 in damage.
Mr. Kelly said his house did not have any smoke detectors.
"I have heard there are a lot of houses in the area that don't have them," said Maria Waybright, who was visiting her mother, who lives across the street from the fire scene. "If this house had detectors, I think this whole thing could have been avoided."