West Haven’s Gage Thorpe honored after helping family exit burning home
Gage Thorpe, right, was recognized Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2020, at a West Haven City Council meeting for helping his family safely exit their West Haven home during a July 22, 2020, fire. He's photographed here before the meeting with, from left, sister Keegan Finn, mom Melanie Finn and stepdad Jim Finn.
Gage Thorpe, right, was recognized Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2020, at a West Haven City Council meeting for helping his family safely exit their West Haven home during a July 22, 2020, fire. He's photographed here before the meeting with, from left, sister Keegan Finn, mom Melanie Finn and stepdad Jim Finn.
Fire crews responded to a house fire in West Haven on July 22, 2020. Gage Thorpe, who lived there, helped alert his family to the fire and make sure they safely left the structure.
WEST HAVEN — Gage Thorpe still doesn’t know what roused him early that morning last July.
“I have no clue how I woke up. Our smoke alarm didn’t go off,” he said.
Whatever the case, he woke up, and in the end it had big consequences — allowing him and his family to safely escape their West Haven home, which was on fire and ultimately destroyed in the blaze. Thorpe, 18 at the time but now 19, screamed for his family to get out of the house after waking and discovering the fire. He safely led his younger sister out of the burning home.
Photo supplied, Weber Fire District
Fire crews respond to a house fire in West Haven on July 22, 2020. Gage Thorpe, who lived there, helped alert his family to the fire and make sure they safely left the structure.
“Everyone’s been saying, ‘Someone was watching over you,'” said Thorpe, an electrician’s apprentice and a 2020 graduate of Fremont High School.
The fire occurred on July 22, but Thorpe is still getting accolades for his quick thinking. The Weber Fire District on Sept. 9 honored him with a certificate for the bravery he displayed and West Haven leaders and the Weber County Sheriff’s Office recognized him during Wednesday’s West Haven City Council meeting.
“Just incredible,” said West Haven City Councilperson Nina Morse, there for Wednesday’s recognition ceremony. “I got a bit choked up.”
Paul Sullivan, chief of the Weber Fire District, said if not for Thorpe’s quick response, the fast-moving blaze could have killed someone in the home. “He got them all out. … It was just impressive,” Sullivan said.
“A miracle,” said Thorpe’s stepdad, Jim Finn. “We got up and the fire was already in full destroy mode. … The whole back was already engulfed.”
His mom, Melanie Finn, beamed. “I’m proud of him,” she said.
Lamentably, Melanie Finn lost one of eight kittens she was taking care of as part of her duties with an animal rescue operation and the family lost a pet hedgehog. The home, valued at $605,000 last year, according to Weber County property records, was destroyed. Even so, it could have been worse — much worse.
“Honestly, I just cared about my family more than anything,” Thorpe said, recalling his seemingly instinctual response in alerting his parents and sister. “I didn’t care if I got hurt doing it, just get my family out.”
For now the family is living in Syracuse. But his parents plan to rebuild at the West Haven site, Thorpe said.
’A RAGING INFERNO'
An ember from a backyard grill apparently started the fire, according to Jim Finn. But no one was the wiser until Thorpe, for whatever reason, awoke shortly after 4 a.m. that morning in July.
“I see the sky’s orange. I was really confused,” Thorpe said, recalling the sight on looking out his third-story bedroom window.
Sullivan termed the blaze “a raging inferno” at that stage, recounting Thorpe’s description of events. “He woke up and was wondering why the sun was up. The whole back deck was on fire,” Sullivan said.
Thorpe sprang into action. “The first thing I did was scream and yell for my parents,” he said.
His sister, 14-year-old Keegan Finn, was still asleep in her third-floor room, adjacent to Thorpe’s, and he yanked her from bed. “I don’t wake up easily,” she said.
Thorpe headed back downstairs, but backtracked on hearing Keegan cry out. “She actually screamed for help because she couldn’t see anything,” Thorpe said.
The certificate from the Weber Fire District noted the danger Thorpe faced on returning to help his sister. “Ignoring the danger and risk to his own life, Gage ran back to her room and found her looking for her glasses,” it reads. Thorpe described conditions as “smoky,” saying he could barely see a foot in front of himself as he led his sister downstairs and outside to safety.
As events unfolded in lightning-fast fashion, Melanie Finn was removing the animals from the home and Jim Finn was surveying the fire. At 4:18 a.m., less than 10 minutes after waking, Thorpe called the Weber Fire District, the responding agency in West Haven.
“Upon arrival it was verified the family was out of the home. (H)owever, some animals still remained inside. Crews went offensive and 7 cats are safe but some did perish. Crews then went defensive,” reads an account on the Weber Fire District Facebook page in the hours after responding.
Nearly two months later, Thorpe still marvels at it all. The fire caused the floor in his bedroom to collapse into the kitchen below, which gives him pause. Likewise, all the recognition from friends and acquaintances can be a bit surreal, still takes some getting used to.
“They’re like, ‘You’re a hero,'” Thorpe said. “It feels weird being called that.”
