Quick Action: Clarendon Hills Woman Credited

CLARENDON HILLS, IL – A woman from unincorporated Clarendon Hills was credited for "quick and decisive action" after discovering a fire in her home in January, the local fire district said.

This week, officials from the Tri-State Fire Protection District honored Emily Beach.

In the early evening of Jan. 24, Beach was alone at her home on Alabama Avenue when she smelled an unusual odor, according to a Tri-State news release.

Beach searched the house and found a fire in a second-floor bathroom, the fire district said. She isolated the fire by closing the door, helped her dogs escape, left the house and called 911, the news release said.

Firefighters arrived in minutes and put out a small fire in the attic.

"The first firefighters on the scene remarked that the fire was minutes away from becoming a fully involved attic fire," the release said. "Emily’s quick and decisive action saved the lives of her pet family members and helped minimize the damage to the family home."

She was given a commendation certificate and a gift bag containing some fire district swag, a district T-shirt and a challenge coin.