When the news hits close to home ... learn from it

There was some human drama that we didn't get to in Wednesday's Page 1 story on a fire that displaced about 30 people from Royal Glen Condominiums near Glen Ellyn. Allow me to share.

Susan Dibble lives two doors down from the third-floor condo unit where the fire started. She was awaken about 3 a.m. by her smoke detector going off. She smelled smoke, too, so she didn't even grab her glasses before heading to her front door to see what was happening.

Rescuers had arrived and were trying to usher people out of the building as they fought the fire.

But Susan, who has muscular dystrophy and needs a walker to get around, had no idea how she'd navigate the stairs with the elevator out of commission. But a Glen Ellyn police officer simply picked her up and carried her down the three flights. Once outside, other neighbors made sure she was covered with a jacket and blankets. Another stranger wheeled her to the lobby of the condo complex where everyone was gathering to get their bearings.

The good news for Susan is she's physically OK, and has insurance. But she faces much uncertainty in upcoming months. Many of her possessions have considerable smoke damage, and she's not sure how far her insurance will go. It's also unknown when her condo will be habitable. For now she's living in a hotel and might have to find temporary housing.

I know all this because Susan is an employee of the Daily Herald, works as a community news coordinator from our Lisle office. Her byline appears regularly in the Neighbor section.

I mention all this because when a story we routinely cover hits home like this, it provides us with important life and work lessons.

• The value of friends. When I put out the word that Susan had been displaced by a fire, I immediately received e-mails, some from people working in offices far away, asking what they could do to help. Susan, too, was heartened by the what-can-I-do attitude of a friend, who dropped everything to lend a hand. Neighbors and others were helpful. A building maintenance man went back to Susan's damaged condo and brought her motorized scooter to her at the hotel.

• The good, and often unheralded, work our public servants routinely do. There was Ray Munch, who carried Susan down the stairs, and the good-natured joshing by another Glen Ellyn officer. When Susan returned to the condo complex to rummage through her damaged belongings, some of them. were reading our account of the fire. Susan mentioned she worked for the Daily Herald, and asked, "How was the story?" One of them replied, "Full of errors," then quickly gave assurance that he was kidding, providing a little comic relief in a stressful time for Susan.

• The value of all the fire safety training that's been drummed into our heads since we were kids. Susan will be the first to vouch for the value of having working smoke detectors, and she wishes she'd heeded the call to have a small bag of essentials packed nearby to grab in the event of an emergency. She did, however, have a flashlight nearby, and that was huge.

• Why we do what we do. Reporters often are viewed as an intrusive lot when tragedy strikes. But when we can put a human face on a story, virtually any story, it helps our readers identify with and have some empathy for the people we have to write about because of their misfortune.

And shouldn't that be our goal all the time?