A chicken coop fire April 12 killed seven chicks, but the quick action of a neighbor saved two other chicks and possibly a house at 7247 Stewart Sharon Road in Brookfield.
“The hero is the neighbor today, for sure,” Brookfield Fire Chief David Masirovits said of Wayne Simeon. “He saved the day.”
The fire started from a heat lamp in the chicken coop behind the house, the chief said, and spread up the back of the house, melting siding, soffit and fascia.
“We looked on the inside” of the house, Masirovits said. “We didn’t find any indications that it (fire) entered.”
Wayne said he and his wife, Valerie, had just pulled in a few houses up when they saw smoke.
“My wife walked out back and she said, ‘It looks like the siding on the house is melting,’” Wayne said.
He called homeowner Paul Simeon, who is a relative, learned that Paul was not home, then called 911 and ran over to the fire.
promo“I ran up there and I found two chicks that were trying to get away from there,” Wayne Simeon said.
Wayne “knocked down the majority of the fire” with a fire extinguisher, Masirovits said.
Paul had said that no one was home, but Wayne discovered there were several young people in the house and got them out.
The chicks belonged to Xylla Simeon, the 17-year-old granddaughter of Paul, said her mother, Melissa Simeon, who is Paul’s daughter and Wayne’s cousin. Xylla is a member of the Touch of Class 4-H group.
“She’s doing good,” Melissa said of Xylla. “Thank God, the neighbor (Wayne) came up and called everyone, got them out of the house.”
Referring to the chicks, Melissa said, “Two made it; one’s doing real good, one’s not doing so good.”
“We’re just super thankful everyone got out and the firefighters came,” Melissa said. “They did a good job and made sure that the fire wasn’t in the house. Just very thankful for that.”
The home is insured, Masirovits said.
Firefighters from Hubbard and Vienna assisted.