To most people, heroism is a matter of bravery. In the case of 10-year-old Kyle Melkonian, it was a matter of instinct.

The Woodward Parkway fifth grader, who saved his two brothers from the family's burning house in May, was honored for the deed last Friday during a fire safety assembly for fifth- and sixth- graders at his school. The presentation by South Farmingdale Fire Department Assistant Chief Donald Mormino was a surprise to Kyle, and, for his schoolmates, brought to life the importance of fire safety.

Kyle rescued his brothers, Hovig, 19 and Berge, 21, by awakening them after discovering a fire in the kitchen of their Farmingdale home, and coaching them to stay low to the ground while exiting the smoke-filled dwelling. Recalling the scary experience, after the assembly Friday he described how getting his brothers out was a gut reaction. "I didn't want them to die," he said.

The 10-year old noticed the fire on a Saturday morning, May 2, while playing video games in the basement of the house at around 9:30. According to Assistant Chief Mormino, the boy became hungry and heard a noise on his way up to the kitchen. After seeing a fire spreading across the kitchen, he ran to rouse his sleeping brothers before exiting the house. "He comes up the stairs into the kitchen, and the kitchen was on fire. What happened was, there was an appliance in the kitchen that failed. The kitchen cabinets were on fire, the counter was on fire, and the fire was traveling up the cabinets and across the ceiling of the kitchen. It started to really get going. He saw a fire, he knew he had to get out of the house. He started to leave the house, but he remembered his two brothers were upstairs sleeping," he said. The boys' parents were not home at the time.

"He ran up the stairs and he woke his brothers up...He told them there was a fire in the kitchen and then he took them out into the hallway. And then, the smoke started to get really bad, but he remembered from his training, from all the fire prevention classes that the fire department conducts [for school children], that when there's smoke he can't stand up in it. So he gets down on the ground, and he starts to crawl, and he takes his brothers, and they all leave through the front door," Mormino continued. He added that he believes the flames had been spreading so rapidly that Kyle's brothers would have perished if he had not awakened them.

Once outside, the older brothers tried to quell the blaze with a garden hose while Kyle ran to call 911. About 30 members of the South Farmingdale Fire Department arrived soon thereafter and extinguished the fire, according to Mormino.

Kyle's family, who was at Friday's school assembly, expressed deep gratitude for their safety, and said they hope the story impressed the importance of fire safety on the Woodward Parkway youngsters.

"I'm very proud of him. God bless him. We love him. Because of his action, he saved our house, our lives," father Harry said of Kyle.

"Thank God," said mother Marie, describing the fear she felt upon seeing her three children outside her house after the fire, covered with black soot, and the simultaneous relief of knowing that they were safe. "Now, we're so careful at home. We never leave anything plugged. We have alarms everywhere now." The incident is still fresh in her mind, she noted, and the family finished restoring their home only a month ago.

Brother Hovig said that before the incident, he had a premonition that Kyle would save his life, and he expressed gratitude to him for the act of courage. "He definitely knew what he was doing. I was following his steps because he had everything down pat," he said. Brother Berge was not able to attend the presentation.

During the fire assembly, Mormino stressed such fire safety techniques as changing one's smoke detector battery twice a year and conducting fire drills.

Woodward Principal Anita Solovey also expressed pride in Kyle's actions. "There are many things that we want to teach children through their career with us in the school system. These are skills that are life-long skills - whether it's reading, writing, arithmetic, whether it's drug and alcohol - or in this case, fire safety. And we're so happy that Kyle remembered these things that we taught him, and that he actually used them. And, we're real proud of the outcome," she said. "He's a swell little kid; he really is. And we're really very proud of him. And, we're hoping that he's a good hero, or role model, for his other peers - because many times children look to older people to be role models and heros, and here they have one in their own class."