College Park is honoring a 10-year-old boy who played a major role in saving his family’s home during a fire this summer.
During Monday’s city council meeting, Mayor Bianca Motley Broom and Fire Chief Sterling P. Jones presented Cornelius Chones with a proclamation for his courage and quick action after a fire broke out at his home in August.
Jones said Cornelius’ efforts to contain the fire reflected skills firefighters spend months training to perform.
“He willingly jumped in and did it,” Jones said.
According to the proclamation, Cornelius’ grandfather discovered the fire as it was spreading toward the attic and directed him to climb “onto the roof of the home with a garden hose” to try to contain it.
Cornelius helped hold the fire back until College Park Fire Rescue arrived, the proclamation states.
The 10-year-old’s “actions were instrumental in preventing the fire from progressing to a potentially devastating loss of the home,” the proclamation continued.
Cornelius has six siblings, all of whom escaped the home without injury.
The young hero declined to speak during Monday’s presentation.
Motley Broom told Cornelius that he now has an extended family in the College Park Fire Department.
“We are so, so proud of you,” the mayor said.
