Last Saturday, Makayla Drew was driving home in Los Lunas, New Mexico, with her three-year-old daughter when they noticed smoke coming from near their neighborhood. After the little girl pointed it out, Drew called 911 and drove toward the source, where she discovered the fire was dangerously close to multiple homes. She ran to one house and alerted the elderly resident to the danger, as the woman had no idea the fire was near her home.
Drew’s alert prompted others in the neighborhood to take action, with many running out of their homes and grabbing hoses to fight the fire. She says that had she not started knocking on doors, many of the residents would have been unaware of the rapidly spreading fire behind their homes. As evacuations began, Drew’s mother and sisters joined in rescuing pets from affected homes, saving four dogs during the chaos.
The fire, now known as the Desert Willow Complex fire or the Cotton 1 and Cotton 2 fires, destroyed nine structures and affected dozens more, but thanks to Drew’s early detection, all the residents were safely evacuated.
Source: KOAT