A Tennessee boy has been proclaimed a hero after he pulled his baby sister from a blaze that gutted their family home.
“I didn’t want my sister to die,” the 7-year-old said of his courageous actions, which have left his family counting their blessings despite having their house destroyed.
Parents Nicole and Chris Davidson were woken Tuesday night by smoke and flames at their New Tazewell home and, as former firefighters, immediately jumped into action to save their children, WVLT reported.
“He grabbed the fire extinguisher, trying to buy me time to get the kids, and I grabbed the boys because they were closest to the fire,” Nicole told the outlet.
However, the mom-of-three explained that flames in the living room prevented her from reaching her 22-month-old daughter’s bedroom.
Cue little Eli Davidson to the rescue.
After the parents and two boys had made it outside, Chris gave his son a boost so he could enter his baby sister’s bedroom through the window.
Once inside, Eli grabbed her from her crib and safely handed her to their dad, before jumping back down, according to WVLT.
Eli described how he was managed to control his fears by solely focusing on saving his baby sister.
“Dad busted the window and then I said, ‘I can’t do it,’ like two times, and then I said, ‘I got her dad,’” the youngster told the outlet. “When we went down there I said, ‘I was scared but I didn’t want my sister to die.’”
Although responding firefighters eventually put out the blaze and no injuries were reported, the Davidsons’ home was completely destroyed. The family is now staying with a nearby relative.
Investigators are yet to determine an official cause, but suspect the blaze began as an electrical fire.