Five-year-old saves family from house fire, becomes honorary firefighter

Once outside the home, Woods ran to his next door neighbor's house, which happened to be his uncle's home, and employed him to help get the rest of the family out of the house.

By ZACHARY KEYSER
Firefighter (photo credit: PIXABAY)
Firefighter
(photo credit: PIXABAY)
A five-year-old boy from Bartow County, Georgia was recognized last weekend as an honorary firefighter after saving his family from a house fire.
After seeing flames in his room, Noah Woods realized a fire broke out in his family home and swiftly jumped into action - quickly grabbing his two-year-old sister and the family dog, cleverly pulling them both to safety through the bedroom window.
Once outside the home, Woods ran to his next door neighbor's house, which happened to be his uncle's home, and employed him to help get the rest of the family out of the house. Woods was later treated for minor burns and smoke inhalation.
Woods received a lifesavers award usually reserved for professional rescuers at a ceremony attended by the local fire department chief as well as the county commissioner. At the ceremony, Woods became the envy of children around the world as he was recognized as an honorary firefighter - receiving his very own badge, helmet and even his own day.
"Normally our firefighters are being recognized... but we're here today to recognize one of our local heroes," Bartow County Fire Department Chief Dwayne Jamison said at a ceremony honoring Woods. "Noah's brave actions saved the lives of the family that day, so we want to recognize him today."
According to the fire department, Woods' direct actions saved seven family members on the day. The department chief noted that the department has seen children alerting families to fires before, but he never would have thought a five-year-old would be alert enough to pull off such a feat. The fire was started by an overloaded electrical outlet in the boy's bedroom.
"When we train these firefighters, we oftentimes work our whole career without doing a truly life-saving intervention like Noah did," Jamison said. "What Noah had done is what we strive our whole career to possibly have the opportunity to [do], make an intervention to save a life during a house fire."


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