Arlington, FL – Today in news that makes you go “whaaaaaat,” a teacher was fired after saving a group of kids by putting out a fire.
Michelle Hammack was fired from Little Temples Childcare facility on Wednesday on a protocol technicality. A fire had started in a nearby classroom, causing Hammack to investigate. She found an oven fire and rushed in to put the fire out.
The fire alarm went off, and she went back to her classroom to wake up her napping students. She brought them all outside but forgot to do a headcount before rushing back in to make sure there were no other children left behind.
She went back to the fire and managed to put it out before firetrucks arrived. She was thanked with a pink slip hours later .
“I fired her only because she left her room,” rebuffed facility owner Olga Rozhaov. “Even though children are sleeping, the teachers are supposed to be there.”
Now Hammack is protesting her firing on a protocol technicality. “I didn’t start the fire. I put it out,” she said, arguing that her firing isn’t fair.
But Rozhaov believes she made the right decision and won’t be persuaded to change her mind.
“It’s not acceptable, and if anybody else does the same thing, I will fire again. I will fire them. No question.”
The Jacksonville Fire Department confirmed that an oven fire was extinguished by an employee, and the Department of Children and Families is investigating Hammack’s firing.
[Image: Shutterstock ]
