A Georgia boy woke up in the middle of the night to flames engulfing his bedroom, but instead of panicking, he jumped into action.
Noah Woods, 5, grabbed his little sister, 2, and exited through their shared bedroom window, the only safe exit when the Sunday night fire broke out.
His heroics didn’t end there; the young boy ran back into his home to save the family dog before waking up his uncle next door to alert him of the fire.
Together, they woke up his six other family members, who were sleeping in the Bartow County home. Everyone survived thanks to Noah’s quick thinking.
“We’ve seen children alert their families before,” Bartow County Fire Department Chief Dwayne Jamison told CNN. “But for a five-year-old to be alert enough to do this … That’s pretty extraordinary.”
The fire department shared a photo on Facebook of Noah, covered in ash and wearing a hospital gown. The photographer holds his tiny hand that has a name tag, reading “Noah,” stuck to it.
“Our hero,” the department wrote. “Noah is credited for saving himself and seven other family members.”
On Friday, Jamison will recognize him as an honorary Bartow County firefighter and will present the boy with a lifesaving award.
A GoFundMe was started by grandfather David Woods to help the family get back on their feet.
“By the grace of God, all nine of our loved ones were able to get out of our home,” Woods wrote. “If it wasn’t for Noah, we may not be here today.”
According to the fundraiser page, the fire began due to an overloaded electrical outlet in the boy’s room.
“Unfortunately, our home was a total loss. Due to a recent lapse in our home insurance, this has made a difficult situation a little worse,” the page continues. “We are planning to rebuild and will likely need to stay in a motel for some time and likely rent a small house while we work to earn funding and build.”
The page has already raised US$17,038 of its $75,000 goal.
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