Little Girl Saves Family From Vallejo Fire

A 7-year-old Vallejo girl, whose class had a fire safety lecture last week, raced through her apartment Monday, awakening her family as an early morning blaze filled the home with smoke and fire.

Vallejo firefighters were crediting Kelby Yelder with saving her family from the two-alarm blaze that erupted at the three-unit apartment house in the 700 block of Grant Ave. just before 4 a.m.

Kelby's actions not only saved her mother and two brothers, but also another family who lived in a second apartment and a man who lived in a third. The building was not equipped with smoke detectors.

"Apparently, one of the fire companies near Kelby's school came out and taught them about fire safety (last Friday)," said Vallejo firefighter Bill Tweedy. "This morning when she smelled smoke she was able to get up and get her family out safely."

Kelby said she got up to go to the bathroom and noticed the smoke. She hurried into her mother's bedroom and woke her up.

"I told her that the smoke was really and she didn’t believe until she got up," Kelby said of her mother.

Tamara Groves had tears streaming down her cheeks as she talked about her young daughter's heroics.

"I'm just overwhelmed and so thankful my daughter woke me," Groves told KTVU. "I was sleeping and she said mom there was smoke, get up. She said there is a fire… She got the kids out. She got everybody out this morning… I commend her teachers and the fire department whatever they taught her it worked."

One she awakened her mother, Kelby went and got her brothers.

"They taught us to duck, cover and roll -- that you have to be near the ground," she said. "That's what I told them (her brothers)."

Firefighters were able to bring the fire under control, but not before it heavily damaged the building. They said it appeared the fire may have started in a wall heating unit, but the cause still remained under investigation.

The building's owner was cited for not having working smoke alarms.