Girl saves neighbor’s house from fire

Stefanie Frith

COSTA MESA -- Kyndall Long wasn’t too happy when her mother, Kellie,

told her to put the computer away in the kitchen Friday night.

But the 10-year-old fourth grader said now she is glad her mom made

her do the chore.

“I was putting away the computer and I looked out across the street

and saw that our neighbor’s [front porch] was on fire,” Kyndall said. “I

looked out, and the flames were huge. It was really, really high.”

Immediately, Kyndall ran to tell Kellie and got her dad, Michael, from

his office in the back garage. Michael Long ran across the street with a

fire extinguisher that didn’t work and Kellie Long called the fire

department. Then Kyndall ran to take a new fire extinguisher to her dad.

Before the fire department came, the fire was out.

“If she hadn’t seen it, another few minutes and the house would have

been on fire,” Michael Long said. “It was really crankin’. It was nuts.

The flames were going over the roof.”

The fire began in a planter underneath a wooden trellis on the front

porch around 7 p.m. when some chemicals, such as paint thinner, ignited,

said Julie Scheinrock, the home’s owner. Scheinrock was not home when the

fire occurred.

Although the flames were roof high, Michael Long was able to douse the

flames with a hose and fire extinguisher.

“It was not a major thing and when [the fire department] got there,

the flames were already out,” said Costa Mesa fire Capt. Fred Seguin.

“Twelve people [from the fire department] responded, and they were only

there about five minutes.”

“I got home that night and they [the Longs] came over and told me what

had happened,” Scheinrock said, looking over the remains of the trellis.

“I keep thinking about it. I am afraid it’s going to reignite. But she

[Kyndall] saved my house. I am so thankful.”

If anything, Scheinrock said, the fire is a lesson in what chemicals

she can keep around the house.

“It really makes you think about what you have around,” she said. “I

had chemicals in there that [the labels] said were safe. But at least

it’s a lesson.”

Kellie Long said that since the fire, she and her family have been

thinking about what they could have done differently to have sped along

the process.

“Next time, I will grab the cordless phone to call [911],” she said

with a laugh. “I had the fire marshall on the phone asking me questions,

and all I wanted to do was run and get Michael and the fire extinguisher.

It’s the things you think about later. It was pretty stressful.”

Kyndall, shy about the attention she has been receiving from her

family and friends, said she was just glad she saw the fire in the first

place.

“It was pretty scary,” she said.