8-Year-Old Boy Saves Family Near Miami

HOMESTEAD, FL — An eight-year-old boy is credited with saving his siblings and parents when fire swept through the family's trailer home overnight Tuesday into early Wednesday morning, according to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue. The fire broke out shortly before midnight at 24201 SW 123 Avenue. The child braved smoke and flames to wake up his family and get them to safety.

"The eight-year-old hero saved the family," declared Battalion Chief Horacio Rodriguez of Miami-Dade Fire Rescue.

Rodriguez said that first responders had to stretch a supply line because there was no fire hydrant nearby.

"I woke up and there was fog everywhere so I ran out because I couldn't breathe," the child told Local 10 News wearing a shark T-shirt. "I was like dad, dad wake up and he didn't know."

Erika Benitez of Miami-Dade Fire Rescue added that 10 units responded to the blaze.

"The call came in at 11:51 p.m. as a trailer on fire with a vehicle also on fire," Benitez told Patch. "No injuries were reported."

The young boy said his father got up once he realized what was happening.

"When he woke up, he seen smoke everywhere," Noel said. "He woke up my little brother and my mom, said 'get out of the house because we could of got hurt.'"

Photo courtesy Miami-Dade Fire Rescue