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By MARK GUYDISH; Times Leader Correspondent
Sunday, February 19, 1995     Page: 7B

CONYNGHAM — In an age when heroes seem to collapse as fast as they’re
inflated comes an unassuming 9-year-old named Lauren Pikna.
   
Conyngham’s political and business leaders showered the shy, petite
brunette with awards and certificates at Wednesday night’s council meeting.
They say she helped limit damage to a burning building by getting firefighters
to it on Jan. 27.
    To hear Lauren tell it, she did nothing heroic that Friday morning:
   
Her grandmother couldn’t get the garage door open at their residence on
Lawson Place, so a ride to school was out. Lauren walked to the bus stop
alone.
   
Along the way, she stopped to wave to a passing van that looked like a
friend’s. She also heard some noise coming from Deborah Rolland’s house. She
said, “I thought it was an electrical problem.”
   
Because she had stopped to wave she thinks she got to the bus stop late. So
she walked home, again passing the Rollands’ home. And the noise was still
there. She also smelled smoke.
   
At home, she told her grandmother what happened, but the grandmother took
little notice, worrying about getting Lauren to school. Her grandmother called
a neighbor, Louise Diana, who came over to give Lauren a ride, and Lauren
repeated the story about her odd trip to the bus stop, the noise and the
smoke. “I told Mrs. Diana . . . and she called the firemen,” Lauren said.
   
Whining smoke alarms accounted for Lauren’s “electrical problem”
assessment. The fire department arrived in time to save the home, though
Rolland estimates total damage, including smoke and water, exceeds $40,000.
Neither Rolland or the two daughters who live with her were home; firefighters
responded quickly and eventually listed the cause of the fire as accidental.
They didn’t detail whether electricity had any bearing on the blaze.
   
Rolland said the house is being repaired and she expects to move back in
within two months. Rolland watched as Lauren stood in front of a packed
council chambers, collecting more plaques and gifts than she could hold.
   
Council President Jacque Wetzel gave Lauren a plaque.
   
“This is one of the nicest times to be president of council,” Wetzel said,
beaming. Another plaque read, “A most memorable occasion in the life of Lauren
Pikna.”
   
She also was given a plaque and a gift certificate from Gould’s IGA grocery
store in the borough, as well as a shirt and a gift certificate from Mary
Ellen Oswald on behalf of McDonald’s.
   
The plaques will go on her bedroom wall, she said, and mom and dad get to
share the free dinner at McDonald’s.
   
And the fame?
   
She glances down at the ground as her smile pushes her cheeks into her
gold-rimmed glasses and she says, “I’m tired of it.”