Escambia Commission Honors Molino Teen For Saving Lives Of Her Family From House Fire

September 10, 2020

The Escambia County Commission recently honored a Molino teen for saving the life of her family from a fire that destroyed their home on Crabtree Church Road.

Destany McKim, 14, saved her mother and grandmother from the fire about 12:30 a.m. on January 25, 2019.

Destany, who was 12 at the time of the fire, said she was up late doing homework, and smelled a little smoke. At first, she thought her mother was cooking.

“As soon as I looked over at the living room, the extension cord just burst into flames,” Destany told NorthEscambia.com. She immediately went to wake her mom and grandmother as the house began to fill with dark smoke.

“My mom is a smoker, so she didn’t smell the smoke. It didn’t wake her up, and my grandmother wears a CPAP machine, so couldn’t have smelled it,” she said. There were no working smoke alarms in the home.

As she got her mother and grandmother out of the home, she had the forethought to close the doors to slow the spread of the fire. Her grandmother went back in with a fire extinguisher, but the flames spread rapidly.

“It just spread everywhere, and the windows had just burst.” She worked to save the three family dogs, including a 65-pound basset hound that she ultimately had to tote away from the burning home.

“I don’t feel like I am a hero. I feel like I did what anybody else would have done in that situation because I just thought of my family. If I had gone into panic mode, there was no keeping my mother out of panic mode,” Destany said. “I don’t feel like a hero, but I’m flattered.”

“She’s a hero. A real hero. She saved her lives,” Destany’s mother Datanya Wells said recently.

Destany, who will attend Northview High School this year, may have a future in firefighting. She’s applying to be an Escambia County Fire Rescue junior firefighter.

Last month, she received the Girl Scout Bronze Cross for Valor for saving her family.

Pictured: The Escambia County Commission honored Destany McKim for saving the life of her family from a 2019 house fire in Molino. NorthEscambia.com and courtesy photos, click to enlarge.

Comments

One Response to “Escambia Commission Honors Molino Teen For Saving Lives Of Her Family From House Fire”

  1. Beth on September 10th, 2020 7:41 am

    Well done! And yes, you are a hero!

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under FEATURE TOP STORY, Features, News