Olive Preuss, 7, ignited Portage firefighters’ hearts Wednesday when she offered a priceless gift to a couple classmates after a local family was displaced by a house fire two weeks ago.
Passing up the chance to ride inside a firetruck to St. Mary’s Catholic School on Wednesday morning, Olive asked the Portage Fire Department to instead take her friends Easton Van Zile, 7, and Avery Van Zile, 5.
“It made me happy,” she said. “Because I was helping a friend.”
Portage Fire Department Capt. Mike Nachreiner said Olive’s act of kindness made her the heroine of the day and deserved recognition, rather than the firefighters she and her friends look up to as heroes.
Easton said he liked meeting firefighters - and they made sure to ask him how he was doing. The engineers flashed the truck lights and honked the horn, and Easton said he loved it.