Crosby's Market Employee Recognized

After hearing from Fire Chief Jason Gilliland Wednesday night, the small crowd inside the Selectmen's Meeting Room of rose to their feet to give Gary Orellana a standing ovation.

Gilliland was on hand to present Orellana, 21, of Lynn, with a plaque recognizing his quick response to a fire that was by two local teenagers outside of in January.

"On behalf of the , I want to present you with this plaque for a job well done," Gilliland said, adding that Orellana's actions likely prevented the fire from spreading to the rest of the building.

On the night of Jan. 8, local fire and police units responded to the area outside of the bank after a passer-by reported a bush burning against the building.

When firefighters arrived on scene, they found that Orellana, who works in the Crosby's deli department, had already raced outside and put out the flames with a fire extinguisher.

"Luckily he knew to immediately go for the fire extinguisher," Crosby's manager Brian MacIntyre said after the incident. "It was nice to see him act so quickly. Sometimes people freeze up when something like this happens."

Had Orellana not acted as quickly as he did, MacIntyre said the damage to the bank could have been much worse.

"Another five minutes and I think the building would have caught," MacIntyre said. "We're very proud of him."

In the days following the incident, the formally charged two 14-year-old boys with starting the fire with a cigarette lighter.