“Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening
when you would rather have talked.” Mark Twain
38 Bham Family April 2020
K I D S W H O S H I N E
THOMAS PITTMAN, 5
difference when his Crestwood family recently
January 26, 2020, started out as a normal
Sunday afternoon—the family had just woken
smell smoke, noticed their electronic thermostat
smoke coming from an outlet. Thomas’s father,
Clay Pittman, followed the smell to a vent and
moved a play kitchen to investigate further. When
moment when Thomas took matters into his own
hands. Without a second thought, Thomas led his
3-year-old sister Elle outside to safety. His parents
made it out unharmed. All of this happened
should get out,” Clay says.
In the span of 5 minutes, the house was
Birmingham Fire Department was there swiftly to
respond. It was not until later that evening when
Thomas’s parents were talking that they realized
the leadership that Thomas had taken that day.
Both of them thought the other one had directed
the kids outside during the split-second chaos.
“We just looked over and they were on the porch,”
Amanda, Thomas’s mother, says. When his parents
came to my school and told me to do that.”
learned when the Trussville Fire and Rescue had
visited his preschool underscores the importance
NorthPark Baptist Church, where Thomas
mother teaches at Clay Chalkville High School)
years now under the leadership of Noah’s Park
Weekday Education, Kandy Cole.
work on the Crestwood home. As for Thomas, he
was honored at a surprise ceremony at his school
Fire and Rescue, alongside the Birmingham Fire
To nominate a child for Kids Who Shine, email matthew@jbmcmedia.com.
link