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A Hero's Honors for 9-Year-Old Who Rescued Seven

TROY — It’s been a little more than a week since 9-year-old Carlos Duffie’s home was destroyed in a morning blaze, but he was all smiles on Monday when he was made an honorary Troy firefighter and his school, Public School 18, donated $1,600 to his family.

The school was able to collect the donations, mainly given in gift cards and checks, in about five days, said Genevieve Stinson, a Kindergarten teacher at School 18 who headed the donation efforts. The school sent letters home and said they accepted any donations like clothes and money.

The Troy Uniformed Firefighter’s Association made a $200 donation to this. But, on top of that, they awarded a dimpled and blushing Carlos a plaque decorated with the city seal and a golden ax. He has also been invited to visit the city firehouses whenever he wants, fire officials said.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have this opportunity to give out an award like this very often because usually fires are very sad events. Carlos was a very smart kid,” said UFA President Capt. David Paul. He said that Carlos was possibly the first-ever recipient of such an award and he was certainly the youngest.

Seven people escaped the Oct. 24 fire — with some climbing through the basement windows. Carlos rescued his 7-year-old brother Ramon, a second-grade student at School 18, and also woke up two cousins.

The family moved into their new temporary home this past weekend in Lansingburgh. The six-bedroom house was donated to the grateful family by the grandmother of one of Carlos’ classmates.

“We did not really even know the family but they offered to let us stay in the house while we rebuild our home. The generosity we’ve been seeing has been overwhelming,” said Ganima Perez, Carlos’ mother.

Their former home of 14 years at 33 Rankin Ave. in Troy has not yet been demolished but it has been deemed a total loss and will be razed. Perez’s father, Clifton, is even looking on the bright side of this since their old home was not handicap accessible and many of Clifton’s friends are handicapped.

“My father is legally blind so many of his friends are handicapped. They could not really visit us before but we want to make the first floor handicap accessible so they can in our new home. My father is kind of excited about that,” said Perez.

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