Douglas Boy Saves Brother, Himself From Carbon Monoxide Danger
DOUGLAS (CBS) - He's a bit bashful about it, but 10-year-old Brayden Wilcox's bravery Wednesday morning was anything but.
"I feel good about it," says the fourth grader.
His mom and dad were at work around 9:15 a.m. Their two sons were sleeping-in during school vacation. That's when Brayden heard something.
"I was half-awake when it went off," he said. "It was like a triple beep every five seconds."
Brayden ran to the basement to check on the carbon monoxide detector, which was in full alert.
"So I woke up my brother and we went outside and then we just called the fire department," he explains.
"I guess you could say that he saved my life today," says 15-year-old big brother Josh, "because if he didn't wake me up or if we were still sleeping, then the carbon monoxide would probably get into our system."
"I'm still feeling pretty sick to my stomach over the whole thing," the boys' mother Brenda told WBZ. "But I'm just so thankful."
The family is well aware that it was just last week in Milford that carbon monoxide poisoning killed two people and sent two others to the hospital.
Douglas Fire Chief Kent Vinson says he's incredibly proud of Brayden. He says the most important thing is that Brayden "woke up, woke his brother up, and got out of the building."
Part of the reason Brayden knew what to do is thanks to the Douglas Fire Department itself. Firefighters go into the schools here every year as part of their SAFE program, to teach kids what to do in an emergency just like this.
"This is perfect proof that the program works and saves lives," Chief Vinson says.
"It just makes you proud that they are listening," Brenda Wilcox adds.
Fire officials think a faulty furnace might be to blame here, but Brian Wilcox, Brayden's father, is taking no chances.
"I've recently purchased three new carbon monoxide detectors just in case," he says, to replace the ones the family already has.
