MADISON TOWNSHIP — A 12-year-old Ontario student was honored by Madison Township on Monday for his quick thinking and bravery after helping a friend who caught fire during an accident earlier this month.
On June 2, Keith Rawlins Jr., a future seventh-grader at Ontario Middle School, was spending time with friends in the Roseland neighborhood.
That’s when a conversation about starting a small fire turned dangerous.
At one point, gasoline was introduced — and a bottle ignited while 11-year-old Joey Sablan was holding it. The flames quickly spread to his body.
“We turned away for one second, and it got lit, then (the fire) went up the bottle,” Rawlins said. “(Joey) blew on it and it kind of exploded in his hands, so he threw (the bottle) and ran.”
When Sablan stripped off his sweatshirt, Rawlins put the flames out by throwing dirt on his friend’s clothing and patting the fire with his own hands. He also used his feet to extinguish a nearby bush that had ignited. Then he called 9-1-1.
When emergency crews arrived, Sablan was seriously injured.
“He was in bad shape when we got there,” Madison Fire Chief Ken Justus said during a township trustees meeting. “We took him straight to the hospital.
“He had burns over about 10 percent of his body.”
Sablan was transported to Akron Children’s Hospital, where he underwent skin grafts taken from his legs to his back, and spent a week and a half in recovery. He is now home and expected to begin physical therapy.
Rawlins also suffered injuries — first- and second-degree burns on his hands from trying to extinguish the fire.
When asked how he knew to react so quickly, Rawlins gave credit to an unlikely source: Dora the Explorer.
“We’re proud of him,” said Rawlins’ father, Keith Rawlins Sr. “I wouldn’t have known how to do half of what he did.”
Justus praised the young boy’s actions in front of the trustees, and presented him with a certificate of recognition.
“Keith helped put the fire out, helped his buddy, and called 911 to get us there,” Justus said. “He did a fantastic job.”
Rawlins attended the meeting with his parents, Keith and Julie Rawlins. Sablan and his mother, Paige Spears, were also present.
Spears said she received the call about the fire while at work in Columbus and drove straight to Akron Children’s Hospital.
“It was really scary. But he’ll be OK,” she said. “The nurses were all impressed … I cried more than he did.”
Sablan, a future sixth-grader at Madison Middle School, said he doesn’t remember much from the moment, but confirmed the story his friend told.
“I was just scared. I was running,” he said softly.
