I’m very grateful for her, she saved my family

On Tuesday, April 2, the Costa family was relaxing around the house, doing what they normally would do on any given Tuesday.

As dinner sat on the stove, an alarm went off sending confusion throughout the household. Youngest Costa family member, Tyler, recalls the alarm being so loud that he heard it from upstairs as he was watching television. Thinking the food was burning, Kylia Costa fanned the alarm to move the air away.

But the food wasn’t burning. The alarm detected the silent but deadly gas, carbon monoxide.

Immediately ADT called. Having phoned the first responders already, ADT Dispatcher Debrea Dickey, informed the family they needed to get outside immediately.

The Costa family waited less than 5 minutes for first responders to arrive, who went to work using their carbon monoxide detector. Wanda Costa remembers that “they couldn’t find it at first, so then they turned the oven on. That’s when it was found.” After assessing the situation, the fireman told Debrea “if the family hadn’t gotten out by the morning, they all would have been dead.”

Fortunately, they had ADT carbon monoxide detectors which signaled professionally-trained dispatchers from an ADT monitoring center. Reflecting on Debrea’s help, Wanda said “I’m glad she kept on pushing me to get out.” “I’m very grateful for her...she definitely saved my family,” added husband Tyrone Costa.

Debrea was able to meet the Costa family and give them all a big hug. Along with Debrea, Chief Jeff Johnson of the Newport News Fire Department and Chief Ed Elliott of the City of Chesapeake Fire Department were invited to formally meet the Costa family. Additionally, the fire departments each received $5,000 for their service that day.

A happy day. Another family saved.