15-05-2025
Teen puts out fire at family home after completing Beckley FD Community Emergency Response Training
BECKLEY, WV (WVNS) — Beckley Fire Department officials awarded a Civilian Commendation Medal to a local teenager who put out a house fire in March.
Dominic Drennen received the award on Tuesday, May 14, 2025, during the regular meeting of Beckley Common Council, with local fire officials commending him for 'a job exceptionally well done.'
Dominic said he woke up to get ready for school on the morning of the fire and noticed when he walked into the family bathroom that the room appeared brighter than normal.
'The roof was on fire,' he said.
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Dominic said he acted quickly, relying on emergency response information he'd learned earlier from Beckley Fire Department Lt. Chris Graham's Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training.
'I called my mother to get her to come back because she hadn't gotten far. Then I went to get the fire extinguisher and started putting it out,' he said. 'Just kind of held it down until it was empty and then got out of the house.'
Dominic's mother, Nicole Hoye, said she'd left the house only moments before receiving the call from Dominic.
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'He was like, 'Mom, you've got to come back. The bathroom's on fire.' I was like, 'Alright, buddy, you know where the extinguisher is, you know what to do. I'm turning around. I'm on my way. Call 911,'' Hoye recalled. 'So, he did. He got the animals together. He wrangled them up and got them out of the house. He's a hero. If he had not looked in there and seen the flames inside our bathroom fan, we would've lost our home. We would've lost our animals. He did that. I'm just so proud of him.'
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