Firefighters race to find girl hiding in toy chest as house burns, WA officials say

Washington firefighters saved a girl from a house fire after she was found hiding in her room, officials say.

The girl hid in a closed toy trunk when the fire broke out in her Monroe, Washington, home Sunday, Snohomish County Fire District 7 said.

“Monroe Police Department Officers arrived on scene first and were told that there was one child still in the house,” the fire district said on Facebook. “The officers quickly entered the home and closed the door to the bedroom where the fire was located then exited the home. They did not locate the child in that short time.”

When fire officials arrived, they searched a bedroom and found the girl in a closed toy trunk at the end of a bed, the fire district said.

“They quickly grabbed her and brought her outside the home to safety. Paramedics evaluated the child and was not transported,” the fire district said. “Due to the quick thinking of the Police Officers by closing the bedroom door, firefighters were able to contain the fire to the bedroom and extinguish the flames.”

The US Fire Administration also said on its website that parents should make an escape plan with children because they may not know how to escape unless an adult shows them.

Those plans should include having a plan for young children who cannot leave the home alone, finding two ways out of every room in the house and choosing a meeting place outside the home, FEMA said on its website.

“Children should know what to do when they hear a smoke alarm and there is no adult around,” FEMA said. “Help them practice going to the outside meeting place. Teach them to never go back inside a building that is on fire.”