The fire that broke out at a house near Cotter alarmed one student more than most others; Makenna Thesing sprang into action when she saw the fire that was burning just feet away from where her older sister was sleeping.

It was another normal day in Economics for Makenna, but that changed when Anna Engel mentioned smelling something strange. Soon after, Mr. Howard rushed to the window, and the entire class saw that the house right across the street was blazing in flames.

“Right when I saw that the flames were so close to my sister’s house, my first thought was that I needed to get her out immediately,” Thesing said.

After calling her sister, Taylor Thesing, and recieving no answer, Makenna dashed out of Cotter and ran across the street to Taylor’s house. After pounding on the door for several minutes, she finally woke up.

“We quickly moved out as much as we could from her house, mostly clothing. That took us about ten minutes, but then I continued to help for about two and a half hours,” said Thesing.

As students from Cotter gazed out the window, many spotted Makenna dashing back and forth with a dog in her arms.

“The dog was my sister’s, and his name is Diesel. We made sure that he was safe,” said Thesing.

After things were became a little less hectic, and the firemen had got the fire mostly under control, Makenna said that her whole family was there, and they were able to connect and comfort the neighbors.

“It was very scary, but at least nobody was harmed,” said Thesing.

In hard times of tragedy and loss, a true character springs into action and does all he or she can to help. This is exactly what Makenna did, and thanks to her, Taylor and Diesel were safe.