PORT HADLOCK — Four youths are being called heroes by staff at the Jefferson County Library for preventing a potentially devastating fire.
The kids spotted a fire smoldering in landscaping bark next to the library building, 620 Cedar Ave.
Garry, 12, and Dakota Prose, 10, Malachi Taylor, 11, and Mary Itterhey, 11, were playing hide and seek around 6 p.m. Wednesday.
Taylor chose the area on the south side of the building as a good place to hide.
Instead, he found a lot of smoke and heat.
“‘Holy crap, it’s fire!’ That was my first reaction,” Taylor recalled Thursday.
The kids ran inside to tell library employees, who called 9-1-1.
If the children hadn’t been outside playing, the event could have been a disaster, library Associate Director Meredith Wagner said.
All four youths live nearby the library and are well-known patrons, Wagner said.
To thank the boys and girls, the library surprised the kids with chocolate cake and certificates of recognition on Thursday.
“You helped save our library,” each certificate states.