Laura Siemen was driving her eight-year-old son Joshua Siemen-Long to swimming lessons on June 22 and like many kids his age, he spent the time looking out the vehicle's windows, watching the world fly by.
Most kids are generally pretty good at spotting big things like the wacky waving arms outside car dealerships and progress at construction sites, but sometimes, kids spot things that are much smaller in detail. Some kids spot stuff that contributes to society in a meaningful way.
Such was the case for Siemen-Long as he gazed out the car window on Shawnigan Lake Road near the Black Swan Pub, and saw smoke emanating from a newspaper box.
"Mom, there's smoke coming out of the paper box!" he told his mother.
"He knew that it wasn't normal and didn't look right," Siemen explained.
Steadfast in his belief something was wrong, it was because of his leadership and advocacy that she turned around and went to investigate.
"We got there and lo and behold there was smoke coming out of the box," she said.
Her eagle-eyed son was right. The pair called 911 and the fire department arrived quickly.
"As soon as the firefighter pulled the smoking stuff out of the box it instantly caught fire because of its exposure to oxygen," Siemen said. "He put it out with water and then my son and I walked over to talk to him."
She said the pair stuck around to see the situation to its conclusion because it was a good learning experience.
"The firefighter said that because of Josh's situational awareness, he was able to notice this. Not many people have that level of situational awareness and then also take action to do something about it."
True praise from the firefighter for Siemen-Long's quick-thinking actions and to the boy's mother for believing in her son's gut instincts.
It turns out, Siemen and her son learned, that it was the second time somebody had lit the box's contents on fire.
"The firefighter said that if it hadn't been reported, because of all the combustible bushes and trees right around it, it could have started everything on fire and it could have been a really terrible situation," Siemen said.
Not only was she proud, but her son was too.
"It's really re-enforcing, as a young person grows older, do see the repercussions of doing the right thing," she said. "I'm a proud mom for sure and he's a proud little dude."
