Robert “Bobby” Peek was working his summer job at Car Wash Central on South Hill Street when suddenly he heard some kind of explosion. The 18-year-old Spalding High School senior looked around and noticed an electrical fire on the outside wall of the neighboring Star Salon.

Shortly thereafter, a man came running out the salon, holding a fire extinguisher but appearing unsure of what to do with it, Peek recalled.

That’s when he saved the day by saving the building.

Peek grabbed the extinguisher from the man to see if it can be used on electrical fires.

“Fire extinguishers have three grades,” he said, adding that only Grade C can be applied on electrical issues, or else “you electrocute yourself.”

After making sure the extinguisher met the standards, Peek put out the fire except for the area where the wild electricity was still occurring.

When firefighters arrived at the scene minutes later, the main work was already done, leaving Griffin Power to secure the electrical system and Griffin Fire-Rescue to determine the extent of the fire.

Firefighters told him he had saved the building, but Peek was being modest about his contributions when the looked back at the incident.

“The fire department got here pretty fast. I don’t really think I did that much, but they seem to think so,” he said.

How does a young man like Peek know that much about fires and extinguishers, anyway?

“I’m an Eagle Scout. It was neat to actually put some of those skills to use,” he said.