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Camp H.E.R.O. training pays off for Andrews girl

Aailyah Smith (center) accepts a plaque from Leslie Ackermann (left), commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2689, during a ceremony on Wednesday, Aug. 27, recognizing Smith for using the knowledge she gained at Camp H.E.R.O.
Aailyah Smith (center) accepts a plaque from Leslie Ackermann (left), commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2689, during a ceremony on Wednesday, Aug. 27, recognizing Smith for using the knowledge she gained at Camp H.E.R.O. Photo by Cindy Klepper.

Aaliyah Smith was home alone when a fire filled her Andrews home with smoke.

She tried to put the fire out with baking soda; when that didn't work, she and the family dog high-tailed it out of the house.

The house and everything in it were destroyed. But Aaliyah and "Duffus" the dog are alive - and Aaliyah says it's because of what she learned earlier this summer at Camp H.E.R.O.

Kids at the day camp, which was held July 7 to 11, spent the week with local law enforcement officers, firefighters and other emergency responders. The camp's goals are two-fold - teaching the kids to stay safe, and breaking down barriers between youth and emergency responders.

Aaliyah, a sixth-grader at Crestview Middle School, took the safety lessons to heart.

She'd been swimming and had fallen asleep on the couch, and that's where she was when the fire started on July 30.

"Duffus comes up and starts barking," she says. "I told him to lay down and he did. But then he comes back and starts barking again."

She thought maybe the dog needed to go to the bathroom, so she got up to let him out - and that's when she realized the house was filled with smoke. She located the fire under a rolltop desk in her dad's bedroom.
Investigators later determined that a surge protector had overheated and ignited, says Wayne Huff, deputy chief of the Huntington Fire Department.

Aaliyah says she tried smothering the fire with baking soda. When that didn't work, she got out of the house.

"I took Duffus and got help," she says.

A neighbor called firefighters and Aailyah's dad, Shawn Smith, who was on his way to work in Marion. Shawn turned around immediately. In the meantime, neighbors gave Aaliyah, who was wearing just her swimsuit and a pair of shorts, some sandals and a sweatshirt to keep her warm.

Huff, along with a group of Huntington firefighters who were volunteer instructors at Camp H.E.R.O., joined members of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2689 and the post's auxiliaries on Wednesday, Aug. 27, to give Aaliyah some recognition.

The firefighters and the post both recognized Aaliyah for remembering to put into action what she had learned at the camp.

The firefighters, VFW and the post's men's and women's auxiliaries also gave Aaliyah some pocket money to help out while she's getting her life back in order.

The Smith family - Shawn, Aaliyah and Aaliyah's three sisters - was buying the Andrews house on land contract.

The girls are living temporarily in Roanoke, but they're close to moving in to a house on Hannah Street in Huntington.

Complete caption: Aailyah Smith (center) accepts a plaque from Leslie Ackermann (left), commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2689, during a ceremony on Wednesday, Aug. 27, recognizing Smith for using the knowledge she gained at Camp H.E.R.O. when a fire broke out at her Andrews home. Also pictured are Aaliyah’s dad, Shawn Smith (center, back) and Pauline Gearhart, president of the VFW women’s auxiliary.