Two Boys Rescue Young Children From Florida House Fire
Two boys have rescued several young children from a Florida house fire.
On Tuesday, June 16, Jeremiah Grimes, 11, and Isiah Francis, 10, were hanging out inside their home, watching YouTube videos and playing video games, when they started smelling something strange.
As curious little boys tend to do, they decided investigate what was going on. When they looked out the window, they were shocked to see smoke pouring out of the house next door.
Isiah immediately ran outside, as Jeremiah was putting on his shoes, where he encountered the neighbor desperately trying to find water to attempt to put out the flames. During the frantic encounter, the neighbor told him that there were two young children in the kitchen of the house.
With the help of Jeremiah, Isiah went into the home and was able to grab the 1-year-old and 8-month-old, rescuing the children before the entire house went up in flames. Isiah said the home was really smoky, but he was able to maneuver through the house using his sense of touch.
“It was really smoky,” Isiah said, according to the Associated Press. “I could kind of see, but I had to use my sense of touch.”
“I was really scared because I thought I was going to get burned,” Isiah told the WKMG in Orlando. “I was nervous because there was so much smoke it was hard for me to see.”
When Isiah exited the home with a child under each arm, he asked the father if there was anyone else in the home. According to Isiah, the father said “no.” However, there were two other children in the home that were rescued by firefighters after they arrived at the scene moments later. They were later taken to the Arnold Palmer Children’s Hospital.
Jeremiah’s mother, Stef Laboy, is calling the boy’s actions “heroic.” However, Isiah and Jeremiah said they were just doing what they knew was the right thing to do.
“They did something that a grown man would think twice about doing,” Laboy. “They obviously didn’t think twice about it. They were very heroic.”
Boys rescue babies from burning home, officials say http://t.co/KKU2lZ8Csn pic.twitter.com/dkQuS5IOGK
— WESH 2 News (@WESH) June 17, 2015
Isiah said he believes that the children would have burned up in the fire, because their father wasn’t doing anything to help, he was only standing there.
“I was just doing it,” Jeremiah, who had been taught to call 911 in the case of a fire at school, said. “Basic instinct took over.”
Isiah, who has always wanted to be a firefighter when he grows up, said the event didn’t change his career choice.
“I still want to be one,” he said. “Even after they have to go through all this hard work, I still want to be one.”
[Photo via Shutterstock]
