7-Year-Old Riverhead Girl Calls 911, Saves Neighbor From Fire

A 7-year-old Riverhead girl reported a fire at her neighbor’s apartment on Thursday night where a Riverhead man was found unconscious in his burning apartment and sent to the hospital, according to Newsday and CBSNewYork.

The 30-year-old man, Matej Petrak, was flown in to Stony Brook University Hospital to be treated for burns and smoke inhalation, according to Newsday.

According to CBSNewYork, the fire started around 11:30 p.m. in the first-floor kitchen of the two-family Middle Road home.

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The landlord, Shawn McBurney, told CBSNewYork, that the girl, Jennifer Ponce, along with her mother and 6-month-old sibling, recently moved in upstairs and that she reported the fire by calling 911, which saved her neighbor.

According to Newsday, Jennifer ‘learned how to call 911 at school.’

Jennifer and her family were taken to Peconic Bay Medical Center, but no injuries were reported, according to Newsday.

The fire appears to have been started by the stove in the kitchen, and is not considered suspicious at this time, according to both reports.

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