Carrasco Child Unsung Hero of Bastrop County Complex Fire

         Antonio Yanez Carrasco, or as he is more affectionately known among family members, Gordo, was very concerned when he read that two persons perished in the Bastrop County Complex Fire.  The day that he, his wife Martha Sarabia Carrasco and their three adorable daughters evacuated their country home in Paige, Texas, they were concerned that the SUV of their elderly neighbor was still parked out front.

         Gordo knelt down to the level of his daughter Yasmin, looked her squarely in the eyes and said, "Mija, you need to go tell the neighbor that the fire is coming and that she needs to leave now.  Do you understand me Yazmin?  This is important."

         The neighbor was an elderly woman who was obviously living in the outskirts of Bastrop, Texas because she wanted her privacy.  In the two years Gordo and the family lived in Paige they had become friendly with the other neighbors.  Tamales and fruit cakes were exchanged at Christmastime and friendly neighborhood chats ensued here and there.  But this particular elderly woman made it clear that two hellos in two years was all she was going to give.  Nevertheless, Yazmin walked over to her home, knocked on her door determined to persuade her that evacuation was not an option but a must.  As one would predict, the woman was not happy about the wretched news.  Yazmin then, just as her father had done to her, firmly looked at the woman square in the eyes and insisted that she evacuate.

        Two days later, after news that all of Gordo's neighborhood was demolished in the fire, he found out that the fire had hop-scotched his home leaving it intact except for smoke damage and a burnt trailer.  The elderly neighbor's house did not meet the same fate and was charred to a rubble of embers and ashes.  When Gordo read that two had perished in the fire and one was an elderly woman from Paige, Texas, he immediately panicked thinking that it may have been his neighbor.  He searched frantically to find the name listed in the paper.  To his relief the name was not that of his neighbor.  Though it is a tragedy that two people's lives were taken in the Bastrop County Complex Fire, he cannot help but feel proud of the firm actions of his nine-year-old daughter Yazmin.  If she had not stuck to her guns their could have been a third victim.