Lemont first-grader Abby Beranek was honored for her prompt response when her family’s dryer caught on fire.

Abby, age 7, was presented with a “Young Hero” award at the Lemont Fire District Station One Thursday night.

She also got a copy of a letter written by U.S. Rep. Judy Biggert, R-Ill., which will be read when Congress is in session; a proclamation from Mayor Brian Reaves; an award for bravery from State Fire Marshal Lawrence Matkaitis; and a gift certificate for breakfast with her family.

Last month, a fire broke out in the Beranek family’s dryer. Two days earlier, Abby, along with the Daisy Girl Scout troop that she belongs to, went to a fire prevention talk given by Jeff Hawthorne, public education coordinator for the Lemont Fire Protection District.

“He said ‘get out and stay out’ to the girls,” Abby’s mother and Daisy troop co-leader, Beth Beranek, said before the ceremony.

She added that parents were told to designate a meeting place because most fires happen at home. That night, Beranek told Abby where to meet if there was ever a fire.

On April 23, Abby’s father noticed the dryer was on fire, Beranek said.

Abby’s father, Jim Beranek, who had “smelled something” while passing through the laundry room, saw flames when he opened the dryer and alerted the family, said Beth Beranek. She called 911.

Abby followed the directions she had learned two days earlier and was the first to head to the meeting place across the street on a neighbor’s porch. Abby stayed there while her parents got her three younger siblings out of the house, Beranek said. Everyone got out safely and no one was injured, Hawthorne said.

“Abby was so calm about this whole thing,” Beth Beranek said.

The cause of the fire was a faulty part in the dryer.

Abby was selected for the “Young Hero” award because she is “a good example of how children really listen,” Hawthorne said.

When asked following the ceremony what to do when there is a fire in a house, Abby replied: “Get out and stay out.”