Student of the week: Forrest Taylor

Forrest Taylor

By: Annie McCallum | Lynchburg News and Advance
Published: March 02, 2009

ALTAVISTA — Fifth grader Forrest Taylor sprang into action last week when he was coming home from a shopping trip and spotted flames.

Forrest, along with his brother and father, immediately stopped and called 911. They started beating the fire around the edges. As Forrest tried to contain flames before fire fighters arrived on the scene, he also snapped a picture or two.

Fire officials now believe an arsonist is to blame for the brush fires in and north of Altavista that broke out Feb. 22.

Forrest’s efforts to stop the blaze are now being hailed by his small community. His quick thinking and determination have made him something of a local hero. His mother, Kim Taylor said that’s just her son’s way — to do the right thing without hesitation.

“I wasn’t surprised,” Taylor said of her son’s actions. “I’m more surprised about the hoopla surrounding it.”

Forrest, who likes to capture video and pictures of the outdoors, frequently uploads his footage to news sites. Since battling the blaze in Altavista his pictures have ended up on local stations and even CNN.

“He’s always sending pictures he takes to the news. He’s a big outdoorsman,” Taylor said. “He’s always taking pictures.”

Now, it turns out some of the land he helped save when he worked to fend off flames last weekend was that of NASCAR truck driver Stacy Compton. Today in Altavista, Compton plans to recognize Forrest with a special presentation at the Turn One Center at 4:30 p.m.

Taylor said the excitement surrounding Forrest’s valiant efforts are great, but her 11-year-old has remained humble.

“He keeps saying, ‘Mom, I didn’t do anything a normal person shouldn’t do,’” she said. “I know he feels good about it.”

That’s just her son’s nature, though, Taylor said.

“I guess I could describe him as if something needs to be done or someone needs help, he’s going to do it,” she said, adding for example Forrest has been a great help with his grandfather, who is in a wheel chair.

Taylor said Forrest sits with his grandfather, “Papa Arthur,” and does yard work his grandfather cannot do.

Forrest, who said his favorite subject in school is math, described his jump into action like it was routine.

“We were coming from shopping at Walmart as we come crossed the bridge we saw smoke,” Forrest said. “As we got closer we saw flames. I didn’t want it to spread.”

So what does he think about Compton’s plans to recognize his efforts?

“I was like ‘oh my gosh.’”