The quick thinking of a 12-year-old Dunbar Township girl may have saved the life of her baby brother when she wrapped him in blankets and helped to hand him out the window of her family's burning home.
Shortly after midnight Friday, Robert Gratson, of Dunbar Township, awoke to the smell of wood burning, but in the mountainous area of Dunbar Township, he was used to the smell and fell back to sleep.
Five minutes later, the smoke odor was stronger, and he heard popping and crackling noises. When Gratson got up to investigate, he saw that the front porch of his modular home was on fire.
A volunteer firefighter for years, Gratson was surprised by the ferocity of the blaze. He ran to grab his keys and wake up his family.
"In the living room, there was a big cloud of smoke. It was like breathing through a black carpet," Gratson said. Within two minutes, the fire had engulfed the home and the front door started to cave in. "I never saw anything like that," he said.
Gratson's plan was to get the family to his bedroom where a side door could provide an easy escape, but they couldn't open the door, so Gratson broke a window and lowered Josey Gratson, 8, and Josh Woods, 13, to the ground 7 feet below.
When Gratson turned to lower Jesica Woods, 12, he found that she had taken the time to wrap 11-month-old Andrew Gratson in several blankets to protect him from the heavy smoke.
Robert Gratson then went out the window so his wife, Jane Woods, could hand the baby to him.
While the rest of the family was coughing from the smoke, the baby seemed unaffected.
"There was not a drop of ash on him or anything like that," he said.
Jesica said she doesn't know why she decided to wrap her little brother in blankets.
"I just did it," she said. "I thought it would help him breathe."
Jesica said she didn't go out the window with her mother but instead dropped to the floor to look under the bed.
"I went back to get the dogs," Jesica said. She couldn't find the two dogs under the bed and had to give up when she couldn't breathe.
The two dogs died in the fire. The family's home was destroyed and they have no insurance, so they're staying in a hotel in Uniontown. But they are happy that everybody is safe.
"We're all doing good," Jesica said.
"People talk about how scatterbrained kids are, but this girl is amazing," said family friend Harvey Bauer, of Greensburg, who's surprised at the family's survival story because fires in mobile homes typically are quick-spreading, and people usually have only minutes to escape. "By the grace of God, they got out in one piece."
Bauer has set up a fire disaster relief fund for Robert Gratson and Jane Woods with Charleroi Federal Savings Bank in Connellsville. Anyone wishing to make a donations can send checks to the bank at P.O. Box 636, Connellsville, PA 15425.
Bauer said the children's biggest wish for Christmas was to receive bicycles, and he is asking local merchants to donate a few.
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