A high school student became a hero when he swooped in to save a neighbour’s house.
Kelly Choi and her son returned home from school at Strathcona Tweedsmuir School on Nov. 10 when she noticed a barrel burning on a neighbouring property. Fifteen minutes later, she saw a plume of dark smoke and soon afterward the flames jumped the barrel and began racing across the acre between the two properties.
“It blew right across the empty acreage lot between his house and my house, and with the wind and it being so dry, it just swept,” said Choi. “Within five minutes it had crossed and the fire was at my doorstep, and I was panicking.”
Choi gathered her son and their household pets and evacuated the house, watching the flames grow closer.
At that point, 15-year-old Mason Shopperly was driving to STS for parent-teacher interviews with his parents. They saw the smoke from the school and decided to investigate, pulling onto Choi’s property near the Calgary Polo Club as the flames approached.
“We weren’t sure if it was smoke from a fire or if it could be dust, but since we live in the country we know what different types of fire smell like and we smelled a grass fire, so we decided to turn around and check it out,” said Mason.
At the scene, his dad, Chris Shopperly, called 911. As the RCMP arrived Chris provided a statement and Mason sprung into action, grabbing a shovel and heading to the front line of the fire.
He spotted some freshly planted trees and began shoveling dirt onto the flames, extinguishing the fire. Once the flames were stopped from moving toward the house, he moved around to the side with his dad, and the pair stomped on the flames to put them out.
“At the time I was just imagining if that was my house,” said Mason. “If someone loses their house, that’s everything. So I guess I acted like it was my house and I wanted to do everything I could to stop the fire from getting to the house.”
Mason said he hopes the event will show people how important it is to get involved and help out rather than being bystanders in emergency situations. If they had passed by, the house probably would have gone up in flames, he said.
“I want people to never underestimate the difference we can make,” said Mason.
The event taught his parents a thing or two about their son, too. Chris said they saw true leadership and volunteerism in Mason that day.
“We’re extremely proud of him,” said Chris. “We think he’s a hero, but he’s too modest to say it.”
Choi said she would have lost her home if Mason hadn’t come on the scene.
“He didn’t question, he didn’t think, it was just sheer leadership and doing what needed to be done,” said Choi. “Meanwhile a grown adult was crying and panicking, so I’m somewhat mortified but when I relaxed I thought, ‘This kid is really what saved our house.’”
The Okotoks and Foothills fire departments were on-scene after 15 minutes and managed to get the fire under control within 45 minutes, she said.
There was no damage to the house, but the acre between the neighbouring properties was destroyed, she said.
“My house would have burned down,” said Choi. “The way the wind was, it was crazy. Basically a 15-year-old with a shovel held the fire off and saved my house.”
