North Pines school student lauded for helping during fire

Eighth-grader Kyra Wickstrom reacted to a distraught mom’s request for help without hesitation on Wednesday.

The woman, a stranger, wanted someone to take her kids away from the scene where the family’s pickup engine was spitting flames, and she worried about an explosion.

“I love little kids,” the 14-year-old said. “I didn’t want them or anyone to get hurt, so I watched them for her.”

Wickstrom slid the kids under the fence at North Pines Middle School and took them to an afterschool football game where several teens had gathered. She held the kids’ hands. Wickstrom’s friend, Siqi Li, helped, too.

“They seemed like they were in shock,” the teen said. “I asked them about their day. I tried to distract them.”

Wickstrom had been at North Pines watching her friends play football and softball when several teens noticed black smoke billowing up from East Broadway Avenue. The students rushed over the fence to see what had happened. That’s when Wickstrom was asked to help.

The 1983 GMC High Sierra apparently caught fire Wednesday as the woman was driving her family, Spokane Valley fire officials said. No one was hurt.

On Thursday, school officials said students bragged about their classmates’ actions.

“She saw a need and stepped up,” said Lora Jackson, North Pines Middle School vice principal. “Kyra is an exemplar of what we want and what we celebrate in our kids.”

The teen has never helped anyone like that before, she said. “I like to help people if they really need it. Even if the theme at school wasn’t ‘Make Your Mark,’ I would have still done it.”