COPAKE–Debbie Kornelli is very proud of her nine-year-old granddaughter, Caroline Baron. Ms. Kornelli’s neighbors are probably very grateful to the girl.

Ms. Kornelli says that on April 6, Caroline, who lives in Winstead, CT, was visiting her and playing in the yard when she noticed flames on the roof of a house nearby. Ms. Kornelli says Caroline ran inside to report what she saw, which led Ms. Kornelli to call 911. Her son, Kenneth Kornelli, trained a garden hose on the flames until firefighters from the nearby Craryville Fire District responded.

Ms. Kornelli says a family friend “banged on the door” of the neighbors’ home and everyone inside left the structure without injury. She says the fire started after the neighbors made a fire in their fireplace and that the flames had been mostly extinguished by the time firefighters arrived.

This week Craryville Fire Chief William Baker confirmed that firefighters had responded to a call for a chimney and roof fire at the site at approximately 2:30 p.m. that day. He says the flames were extinguished and firefighters followed up with the “overhaul” of the building to be sure the fire was completely out.

The chief doesn’t know who called to report the fire, but he says that as far as Caroline’s role in alerting her grandmother, “It’s definitely a very good thing if she did do that.”

Ms. Kornelli is convinced it could have been a more serious incident if the third grader had not been so observant. “If it hadn’t been for Caroline, they would have lost their home,” she says.