11-year-old goes door-to-door to save sleeping neighbours from a quickly spreading house fire
‘Thank God for that little boy’, says the family of a Texas home engulfed in flames
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Your support makes all the difference.An 11-year-old boy dropped everything, even his video games, to call 911 and run door to door to wake up sleeping neighbours in the path of a quickly spreading house fire.
Caden Rohrick, of Texas, was on his computer around 12.40 am when his mother told him of a house fire in a vacant home in the Houston suburb of Cy-Fair, about 25 miles northwest of the city.
"Thank God for that little boy… very, very thankful that he came over here and notified my parents and they were able to get out, my brother as well," the family of three people rescued from a burning house told local broadcaster KHOU 11.
"The fact that they actually made it out with the little that they had on their backs, pyjamas and keys, that’s it," she added.
Cellphone footage of the fire, which broke out at 12.30 am local time on Friday, shows the flames jumping to another house as a woman can be heard yelling: "Everyone stay away, the gas might be on in the house".
After alerting 9-1-1 to the blaze, Caden left his home to run along Vanlynn Lane, knock on doors, and make sure everyone was fleeing to a safe distance, including those sleeping in the second house that caught fire.
Caden said he felt good no one was injured.
"We got two neighbours. One of them didn’t know, and then the other one knew. It was just smoke and ash everywhere, and ash all in the sky. Getting on other houses," Caden told local broadcaster ABC 13.
"I was scared that other houses were going to catch on fire," he added.
The vacant home where the fire began was razed to the ground, while the neighbouring home suffered significant damage.
Diamond Braxton, the granddaughter of the owners of the damaged home, said it could have been much worse.
“It’s just very emotional for everybody, especially when you go inside and see how something can go from one thing to the next. No one expected today to be like this,” Ms Braxton told KPRC 2.
“That’s the light at the end of the tunnel. This fire could have been way worse, so while this is awful we are just thankful that we are still here.”
The cause of the fire is being investigated.
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