Cub Scout to receive award for saving brother's life

SPANISH FORK — Sitting at the dinner table across from 4-year-old son Nicklaus, Jed Morley says he can't imagine what life would be like had his 10-year-old son, Ethan, not had the courage to enter their burning house in February and pull out his little brother feet first.

Next week, the Utah National Parks Council of the Boy Scouts of America plans to recognize Ethan Morley for that act of heroism with the Honor Medal, the national organization's second-highest live-saving award.

Local Scout leaders don't see many Cubs earning a national award for life saving. But when Ethan receives the award at a Court of Honor on Tuesday, he will become the third Cub Scout in the council this year to receive an award for saving a life.

Just 34 Scouts across the nation received the Honor Medal last year, according to the Boy Scouts of America Web site, www.scouting.org.

"It's quite an honor," said Michele Morley, Ethan's mother. "I'm not sure he really understands yet what it really means."

Jed and Michele Morley had stepped out of the house that cold February evening, leaving their 14-year-old daughter, Emily, in charge of the five children and a cousin, Michele Morley recalled.

"About 45 minutes to an hour later, I got a call from Emily (in a panic)," she said.

The house caught fire when Nicklaus was apparently playing with matches.

The fire alarm went off, but another daughter who was preparing food in the kitchen thought it was just her cooking that set it off, Michele Morley said. When the alarm persisted, one of the children went upstairs and saw the flames.

Emily ran a pan of water upstairs, but when she saw the size of the fire, she dropped it and hustled the children out of the house.

They ran across the street where Emily counted noses. That's when she realized Nicklaus wasn't there.

Ethan, then 9, bolted back across the street and re-entered the house. Flames had already burst through the upper-story windows.

"Suddenly I felt courage," he later told his mother.

When Ethan arrived on the second floor, fire was already coming down the hall. Smoke was so thick it was difficult to see. He turned toward the boys' room but changed direction as suddenly "he just knew where to go," his mother said.

Ethan went into the girls' room, where he saw Nicklaus' feet in the closet. He grabbed them and pulled him out of the room, Michele Morley said.

Together they escaped the burning house. When firefighters arrived moments later, they said the house didn't have enough oxygen left to sustain life.