Neighbors save hearing-impaired 5-year-old from Sublette house fire

SUBLETTE – Two Sublette men are being lauded today for saving a 5-year-old hearing-impaired boy from a burning house.

Curt Kessel and Nick Wilson, neither of whom are firefighters, were driving another neighbor, who is a firefighter, to the station to report the blaze.

He hopped out to run to the station, and as he did, Kessel and Wilson saw the boy, who they knew was hearing impaired, open the second-floor window.

They jumped out, ran to the back deck and tried to signal to the child to jump to them, but he kept saying “I’m scared, I’m scared,” prompting Kessel to climb a shaky lattice fence and hop up to the top rail.

“I said ‘Nick, you ready?’ then I grabbed him by the ankle and handed him down,” Kessel said.

“I’ve never seen Curt react so fast,” Wilson said.

“We were afraid he was going to go back into the house,” Kessel said. “I’m just glad he knew what to do. He opened up that back window, and it was just perfect timing, seeing him open it.”

The boy’s father and 7-year-old brother also were outside the house by the time firefighters arrived; all three were taken to KSB Hospital in Dixon, where the boys were treated and released to relatives, Sublette Fire Chief Kevin Schultz said.

Their father was flown to OSF St. Anthony’s Medical Center in Rockford for treatment of burns to his face and hands, said Schultz, who declined to identify the man.

The fire broke out around noon at the house at 704 W. Santee St., destroying the home and killing the family’s two dogs. The cause is under investigation, Schultz said.

It took firefighters about 3 hours to clear the scene, and no firefighters were injured.

“Everything turned out as good as could be, barring the injuries” to the father, the chief said.

Also responding were Amboy, Dixon City, Dixon Rural, Media, LaMoille, Troy Grove, West Brooklyn and Compton fire departments, as well as Sublette, Amboy and Advance EMS ambulance services.

Both Kessel and Wilson eschewed the hero label.

“We’re not heroes, the firefighters who put out the fire are heroes,” Kessel said.

Well, OK, then, but they could be legit heroes ... Sublette Fire Protection District is in need of volunteers.

“Yeah, they mentioned that,” Kessel said.

Schultz and staff are holding an open house for potential firefighters and EMS personnel at 2 p.m. March 21 at Sublette Fire Department, 300 Virginia St.

No experience is necessary, and training will be paid for by the department. Call Nick Dinges at 815-703-6140 for more information.