Family praise 12-year-old gir’ls quick thinking with melting wall plug
Erin Murrell's (12) quick thinking helped prevent their house in Casseldale from catching fire last Thursday.
The family thought it was just an ordinary evening at home when Erin, who was in the main bedroom, smelled something burning.
“She also heard a soft ticking coming from behind the bed,” says her mother, Melissa du Preez.
Melissa praised her daughter’s quick thinking and believes Erin prevented a possible disaster.
Erin immediately unplugged the laptop, turned off the switch at the wall socket and moved the bed away from the wall.
Read:Â Learn to use electricity safely
The teenager didn’t try to fiddle with the wall socket as she says they were taught at school to switch off the plug and call someone.
“She informed me of her discovery and when I investigated, I was shocked to find the three-point plug burned into the wall socket,” Melissa says.
Their mattress already had a hole burned into it.
Melissa feels things could have taken a turn for the worse if it wasn’t for Erin.
“Taking into consideration that during a recent incident an electrical fault caused a family’s home to burn down and a child sustained several burns to his body, we are lucky,” she says.
Read:Â Change the way you use these and stay safe
She says this incident may not be the type of disaster always written about but believes the prevention of a fire and Erin’s quick thinking are something to be proud of.
“Erin doesn’t see anything special in what has happened but her actions prevented another family from losing everything in a house fire,” says Melissa.
They have contacted an electrician to establish why the trip switch didn’t work.
