Quick action saves home from fire
By Stephanie Bertholdo bertholdo@theacorn.com

Mike Gowan

Mike Gowen, the plant manager at Lupin Hill Elementary School in Calabasas, was commended for his quick and decisive action when a fire broke out at a home next to the school on Dec. 20.

Following a student assembly, several children told Gowen they saw smoke rising from a nearby home. Gowen investigated, and when he saw flames rising from the home's chimney he sprung into action.

"I grabbed a garden hose and put out the fire," Gowen said. "The fire department came in a few minutes."

Gowen said there was minimal damage to the home.

"He suppressed the fire and kept it from spreading into a disaster," Rhonda Bacot, head of maintenance for the Las Virgenes Unified School District, said in an e-mail to district officials.

According to Bacot, Gowen was modest about his feat. She said Gowen actually climbed onto the roof with the hose to contain the fire. Gowen, 31, said the owners, an elderly couple, sent him a thank you note for his help in putting out the fire. Firefighters also thanked Gowen for his quick reaction to the fire.

"I am so very proud of Mike, who has also served a tour of duty in Iraq," Bacot said.

Gowen has been plant manager at Lupin for one year.