13-year-old Demetrius Faust of Springfield credited with saving 9 others from burning home in Forest Park neighborhood

Published: Wednesday, September 14, 2011, 7:42 AM     Updated: Wednesday, September 14, 2011, 1:57 PM

By George Graham, The Republican

The Republican | Mark M. Murray09.14.2011 | SPRINGFIELD - Firefighters continue clean-up efforts at the scene of a 4 a.m. fire at 51-53 Daytona Street in the Forest Park neighborhood.

Demetrius Faust and family talk about Daytona Street house fire in Springfield Faust, 13, was credited with saving his family from an early morning blaze. Watch video

SPRINGFIELD – A 13-year-old boy, awakened early Wednesday by the smell of smoke inside his Forest Park neighborhood home, is credited with helping nine others safely escape from the blaze.

Fire Department Capt. Michael R. Richard said that Demetrius Faust, of 51-53 Daystona St., relied on the fire safety training that he received in school to rouse those sleeping inside the two-family home and see that they all got outside safely.

“If it wasn’t for him we would still be inside,” said Lee Hutchins, the boy’s father and owner of the 2½ story wood-frame home.

“He saved us, he saved us, he saved us,” said Sandra Faust, the boy’s mother. “I love this boy. He saved his family...He knew what to do.”

Faust said she never expected that fire would rip through their home. “But, God laid it on his heart, this 13-year-old boy’s heart, to wake his parents up and let us know ‘Ma, Dad, it’s a fire!” she said.

“He’s a hero,” said Solobia Hutchins, niece of Hutchins. If he hadn’t gotten up, everybody would have been dead.”

Demetrius, smiled modestly when asked how it feels to be a hero and said “It’s cool.”

The blaze was reported about 4 a.m. Demetrius said he was awakened by the smell of smoke. “I smelled something like burning wood,” he said. “It smelled funny.”

Demetrius said he also heard the beeping of a smoke alarm and added that after alerting his parents and rousing others they ran out of the house. “We all ran downstairs and we saw a whole bunch of flames and stuff inside the living room,” he said.

Richard said the first floor was fully involved when firefighters arrived on the scene. “It appears to have started in the front living room on the first floor and spready rapidily, he said.

Firefighters at the behest of Hutchins, recovered the cremains of relatives, including three of his siblings who lost their lives in a house fire on Orleans Court two days before Christmas in 1977. The ashes had been stored in a closet.

Demetrius Faust, following his training, ensured that all those displaced by fire gathered at a pre-determined meeting place, a tree across the street.

Hutchins said that the family had practiced its safe-exit plan just last week. Demetrius said he first learned about fire safety when he was in the third grade at Lincoln School on Chestnut Street.

The cause of the blaze, which caused some $100,000 ina damage, has yet to be determined, Richard said.

The Pioneer Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross is aiding those displaced in the fire.

Sandra Faust said that the two family dogs, a pit bull named Yoshi and Baby, a chihuahua, also escaped injury in the fire.

The 1977 fire, at 23 Orleans Court, took the lives of Demetrius, 18, Solobia, 8, and Edward Hutchins, 7, according to a story published in the Morning Union, a predecessor to The Republican. Their bodies were recovered on Christmas morning.

Lee Hutchins, then 15, was dragged to safety by a neighbor. Four other children escaped the blaze.