Adrienne Dunn, a rising third-grader at Antioch Elementary, was honored by the Whitfield County Fire Department on Monday after fire officials say her actions saved her family from greater harm in a recent house fire.

DALTON, Ga. —  Adrienne Dunn was in her bedroom watching television when she smelled smoke.

A rising third-grader at Antioch Elementary, Dalton, Georgia Adrienne quickly acted on the fire safety skills she had learned at school and alerted her sleeping parents.

Sanna Dunn, Adrienne’s mother, said her family is “grateful” to be alive.

“I feel awesome about her doing what she did,” Sanna Dunn said. “She was very brave and I’m proud of her.”

Adrienne said she remembered what “the clown” said when he visited her school.

Each October during Fire Safety Prevention Month, firefighters from Whitfield County Fire Department Station in northwestern Georgia visit  13 schools throughout the county teaching fire safety. One of those firefighters is Lt. Shawn Damon, who dresses up as “Kee Kee” the clown as a part of the skit they perform for students.

“We know kids are getting the message and applying it,” Damon said. “But to actually see and hear about it in a real-life situation pays off.”  

Lt. Chris West said the program started in 2001 at Cohutta Elementary with a firefighter and clown. Soon word spread and all the county elementary schools were requesting them at their school.

Now the firefighters do two shows a day. West says they perform seven days straight, not counting the weekend.

“Our call volume through the years has appeared to decrease as far as children playing with lighters and getting burned,” West said. “We attribute that to our shows and the message we do with the school system.”

West said he is also proud of Adrienne.

“In 15 years we’ve never had an event where somebody actually had to call 911, get their family out of the house and say the reason is because of the fire safety class,” he said.

West said they make sure to have fun.

“We do a lot of fun skits, but we bring those serious messages about fire,” he said. “We incorporate all that fun stuff to keep those kids’ attention the whole hour they’re there.”

Tracie Dempsey, the principal at Antioch, said the safety skits are working.

“We’re proud of Adrienne for applying that knowledge and helping to get her family out of the house,” she said.

Sanna Dunn said she left the dishes on the stove while napping with plans to wash them later, and the fan overheated causing the pots with grease to catch on fire.

Jason Dunn, Adrienne’s father, got everyone out of the house as he tried to contain the fire. He suffered second- and third-degree burns on his legs when he slipped in hot grease.

No one else was hurt. 

Sanna Dunn said she wasn’t aware that water made a grease fire spread more.

“I was throwing water on it like crazy,” she said.

West suggests using flour or an ABC fire extinguisher, one that can be used for all types of fires.

There was a smoke detector in the home, but it wasn’t working. The landlord has since installed three new detectors and had an electrician check all the wires.  

Adrienne received a certificate naming her an honorary deputy fire marshal and a $50 gift card to Wal-Mart.

Sanna Dunn said Adrienne is usually at a friend’s house, but on that fateful Sunday she was home.

“We’re very grateful she was there that day, she saved our lives,” she said.

Cobb writes for the (Georgia) Dalton Daily Citizen.