Katrina victims awarded for saving neighbors from burning home
At King County Fire District 20's administration building Thursday afternoon Cherry Gray and Mary Bailey embraced a brother and sister from New Orleans. And the tears rolling down the women's faces were a measure of thanks for the pair they call their "angels."
On January 25th the home Bailey and Gray share in Skyway caught fire. They were fast asleep with the fire raging through the attic. Diane Berniard and her brother Clabon, who lived a block and a half away, smelled the smoke and went to investigate. They saw cars in the driveway and assumed someone must be home. They pounded on the windows, woke up the two women, and got them out of the house with just minutes to spare.
"I just think I did what anybody would do," said Diane.
For what they did the fire department gave Diane and Clabon the Citizen Life Saving Award on Thursday. The women they saved bestowed on them a title of their own.
"They were angels," said Gray. "I truly believe that. That's what they were sent here for."
"She is truly an angel. She is," added Bailey. "And I believe that God saved them to come up here and save me."
Diane and Clabon Berniard moved to Seattle last year to live with relatives after their home in New Orleans was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. They'd never even met their new Skyway neighbors until the night of the fire.
"God wanted us to save their lives that night," said Clabon. "It just wasn't time for them to die."
Now this brother and sister from New Orleans are considered the newest grandchildren in Mary Bailey's and Cherry Gray's families. Children they believe became angels after surviving a hurricane hell of their own.
"I believe in angels," said Gray. "I have two of them that I know of for sure
On January 25th the home Bailey and Gray share in Skyway caught fire. They were fast asleep with the fire raging through the attic. Diane Berniard and her brother Clabon, who lived a block and a half away, smelled the smoke and went to investigate. They saw cars in the driveway and assumed someone must be home. They pounded on the windows, woke up the two women, and got them out of the house with just minutes to spare.
"I just think I did what anybody would do," said Diane.
For what they did the fire department gave Diane and Clabon the Citizen Life Saving Award on Thursday. The women they saved bestowed on them a title of their own.
"They were angels," said Gray. "I truly believe that. That's what they were sent here for."
"She is truly an angel. She is," added Bailey. "And I believe that God saved them to come up here and save me."
Diane and Clabon Berniard moved to Seattle last year to live with relatives after their home in New Orleans was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. They'd never even met their new Skyway neighbors until the night of the fire.
"God wanted us to save their lives that night," said Clabon. "It just wasn't time for them to die."
Now this brother and sister from New Orleans are considered the newest grandchildren in Mary Bailey's and Cherry Gray's families. Children they believe became angels after surviving a hurricane hell of their own.
"I believe in angels," said Gray. "I have two of them that I know of for sure
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