Laura Youngsma didn’t let vehicle burn

Happy to tell him all about her day at school, the tiny kindergarten student clutched her grandfather’s hand, walking alongside him as they headed for his car, parked at the curb.

Laura Youngsma

Suddenly, the little girl pulled away and ran back into her classroom, white as a ghost.

“Call 911!” she told her teacher. “Opa’s car is on fire!”

Lauren Youngsma, then 5 years old, attending kindergarten at St. Peter’s School, had been on her way back to the car with her grandfather, Walter Bamesberger, whom she knows as “Opa,” when she saw flames licking out from under the hood of his car.

Bamesberger was not well, and she turned his hand loose allowing him to sit down and catch his breath while she darted back into the administration office.

School officials feared the car would explode, so they activated the fire alarm, evacuating all the children out to the street.

Nearby construction workers assisted with water from their truck, and the fire department arrived, quelling the flames, which blistered the paint on the car’s hood.

Lauren thinks she would like to be a firefighter when she grows up and as a commemoration, her mother, Christine Bamesberger-Youngsma, bought her a little Dalmatian charm for her bracelet.

She said she had always wondered if her little daughter was soaking up her instruction, and if she would ever put to use the safety training she imparted to the little girl.

“I found out she had very good instincts.” her mother said. “We will never forget what she did that day. I am so proud of her.”

Our Young Heroes: 2001

» Cindy Bryan
» Tatum Halligan
» Alex Haring
» Marcus Olhauser
» Montana Parafin
» Laura Youngsma