Interview with Deaf hero Jacob Lingle

Renca Dunn, Daily Moth Reporter: Hello Jacob!

Jacob Lingle: Hi!

Renca: Wow, you recently did a heroic deed in April which you were just honored for that heroic deed on Tuesday night. Wow! It was for a house fire that happened. First, though, I want you to introduce yourself and where you’re from.

Jacob: Hi! My name is Jacob Lingle and I’m from Hastings, MN.

Renca: Hastings, MN. The house that happened was in Hastings, right?

Jacob: Yes.

Renca: Your story is so touching. Do you mind explaining what happened and how you felt during that time? Did you just happen to see it or what?

Jacob: Sure. So I have a short story and a long story but I’ll go ahead with the long story so everyone knows the back story of what happened. I was at the Holiday gas station in Hastings. I was parked and I accidentally locked my keys in my car after filling up my car with gas. My son and I were like ok, I guess we’ll just walk home. It was only about half a mile from the gas station to my house. So we walked home to get the spare key and then we would go back to the gas station with the key to be able to go back home in the car. As we started walking, my son saw smoke on the block we were walking on. My son said oh maybe it’s a bonfire. I was like no, do you think so? Then we both realized that it was black smoke, like really dark smoke. It was obvious that something was burning. What exactly, we didn’t know. So we started walking about three blocks that way. We crossed the street and we started walking. We saw the smoke starting to get worse. Then we started running! We ran to the next block and turned the corner. The block we were on was here and the house that was on fire was here. As we turned the corner, we saw the house on fire and all the flames! I told my son to stay on the corner and to hide behind a pine tree. Luckily the smoke was traveling away from my son so he wasn’t standing in the smoke. So I ran towards the smoke and I saw a man coming out of the house that was on fire. I went up to him and started helping him away from the house. Luckily, his family had already evacuated the house. They were lucky! So I walked over with the man to his family and I asked if everyone was ok and they all said they were fine. After that, I was ready to leave because I thought that was all. So as I walked back and was passing the house, I saw that the fire was starting to hit the house next to it. I realized that the fire could easily spread next door. So I went and banged on the front door of the house next door. A man came to the door and was like what’s going on? I said you need to get out of the house because your house is going to catch on fire soon. He said that he has two dogs so I went to the backyard and helped him with his two dogs. The man and his two dogs got out of the house and stood across the street. Everyone was ok and by that time, the smoke was already so thick and so black. I couldn’t even see my hand at the end of my arm. It was that bad! I saw a kid in the street and I was like come on, let’s go over here. I asked him where his house was and he said it was across the street. His house was across from the house that was on fire. I knocked on the door and his mom was like thank you so much! Then I was walking and saw a police car parked nearby. I explained to them what happened and gave them all my information. And that’s it, that’s what happened.

Renca: So the police saw everything but the fire department hadn’t arrived?

Jacob: No, the fire department hadn’t arrived at that time. When it all happened, no one had arrived except for that one police officer. He was the first on the scene. He went up to my son and told him to go home. And my son was like no, that’s my dad over there. The police officer looked across the street and saw me going back and forth helping people. He was yelling at me across the street but didn’t realize that I’m Deaf. My son was explaining to him that I can’t hear him because I’m Deaf and they were very understanding and nice. Luckily I live in a small town and people are very understanding about Deaf people and weren’t upset that I was in the middle of everything, you know? They were like oh ok and then waited until I came across the street to ask me what happened. As I was explaining what happened, I started coughing. I was doubled over and felt like I was going to throw up. The police officer said I had smoke inhalation and I was like no, I’m fine. I didn’t want to go to the hospital so I said I was fine. All I needed was a ride home and the police officer said that was fine. They just wanted to move us out of the way so he could take care of the situation. So I waited a good 10 minutes and realized it would be faster if I just walked back to the Holiday. So my son and I started walking back to the Holiday. Once we got back, I started coughing more and more. It was getting much worse. I had a gagging cough. So I realized that I should call the ambulance so they could come and check me out. At the same time, my mom and my daughter had arrived as well. My daughter wanted to help so I said fine and she rode in the ambulance with me. It looked like she was so excited to interpret for me and I was like you don’t have to. CODAs are not required to interpret at all. I’m totally against that! And she was like no I want to, I want to help you, dad! So I was like ok, fine and I allowed her to do it. My daughter is 10 years old now. So I was like ok fine and let her help me. They said my lungs sounded clear and everything was fine. I just had to deal with a cough for about a week. It wasn’t serious or anything and it went away after that.

[Video clip showing Jacob receiving an award]

Interpreter: …you noticed the fire and helped other people from danger. The assistant is here to award the Citizens Award of Commendation. So please join me in applauding his actions.

[Photographs showing the award and Jacob standing in a group photo with his wife and two children]

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Renca: How did you feel when they gave you an award?

Jacob: At first, I was like what for? I don’t need that. I was just helping people out. I wanted to see my kids what a good role model was and what a good human is supposed to be. You’re supposed to help others without expecting any attention.

Renca: Yes.

Jacob: I was like no! But my fiancé was like no, it’s ok to be honored sometimes. My fiancé’s name is Marissa so I have to say thank you to her for making me accept the award and realize that it’s ok to be proud of myself and that it’s ok to get attention sometimes. So I was like ok, fine! I’ll take it.

Renca: It was just that simple act of knocking on the door that helped save them from being in their house that might’ve caught on fire. I mean wow! I hope that we can all learn from this that it’s a community effort. If we see someone in need, even if it’s something simple, it can still be a great deed to do. And that’s what you did. It was something simple but it was a good deed to do. Thank you for your time and again, thank you for seeing something like that and acting. Even though you were dealing with your car being locked, you helped in that situation first rather than thinking of yourself and going home. You acted on the spot so thank you for doing that and letting us learn from that. Again, we’re so proud of you, and congratulations on receiving that award.

Jacob: Thank you. I appreciate that. I do have one thing to tell people to remember. A simple deed goes a long way. Something as simple as holding a door open for someone or helping other people. Smiling at someone or saying good morning. It’s just that simple. You don’t have to be extra nice. It’s just that a simple task will go a long way. Sometimes you might make a change in that person’s life just by that simple task.