SALT LAKE CITY (AP)
A Boy Scout who had just been working on the first-aid portion of his merit badge put some of those skills to quick use when he pulled a small boy out of a burning trash bin. Clayton Abrams, 11, was at a Scout meeting at a church when the 7-year-old boy got trapped in the flaming garbage bin. “Another minute or two and he would have been dead,” said Scoutmaster Gordon Abrams, Clayton’s father. “I don’t know how the kid survived.” The 7-year-old found some matches inside the church and began playing with them while his older brother was at the Scout meeting, Gordon Abrams said. The boy burned small holes in the carpet, he said. An adult walked into the room and saw what was happening. The boy jumped out a window, scaled a chain-link fence and ran off, he said. A few minutes later, the Scouts opened a window to let fresh air into the room and smelled smoke from outside. “I just said, The dumpster’s on fire, the Dumpster’s on fire,’” Clayton said. He ran outside with a few other Scouts while his father ran down the hall to call 911. It was while the young Scouts were outside that Clayton heard cries for help. Flames were shooting 3 feet from the top of the trash container, and thick black smoke billowed out. Clayton lifted a closed lid and reached inside for the boy. “I reach in and something grabs my hand,” he said. “He was red. He was screaming. It was really burning hot.” Clayton was able to lift the boy out using only one arm. Clayton was not hurt. Salt Lake County sheriff’s Lt. Paul Jaroscak said the 7-year-old boy suffered a first-degree burn on his arm. He did not suffer from any smoke inhalation, he said. “It felt good to save him. His brother is a really good friend of mine,” Clayton said. “I’m just glad he’s not injured. It was really scary.” Jaroscak said damage to the inside of the church building totaled about $180.
