Two Florida boys are being called heroes after alerting authorities about a mobile home fire and rescuing two babies from the trailer.
Jeremiah Grimes, 11, and Isiah Francis, 10, called 911 to alert fire officials to the blaze on Colonial Drive in Oakland on Tuesday, and then went into the home to get two infants out of the burning structure,
according to WESH-TV.
Oakland, with a population of about 2,500 residents, is located just south of Lake Apopka.
Two children, ages two and five, were injured in the fire and taken to Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in Orlando. Luis Cruz, 19, and four children were inside the home when the fire started, Orange County Fire Rescue told the television station.
Officials said Grimes and Francis were able to get a 1-month-old and 8-month-old child out of the home.
"We looked out the window and saw flames coming out of the house," Grimes told WESH-TV. "(It was) really hot. It felt like 150 degrees in there. I'm just thinking, 'Stay calm, keep your mind straight, stay focused on what you're doing.'"
Francis said they could barely see inside the home but concentrated on trying to find the babies.
"I was freaking out trying to get the babies out before they got hurt or something happened," said Francis. "I found my way outside and I took the two kids to my house."
Fire officials on Wednesday recognized the youths in a news release, both for their quick action in calling 911 and getting the babies out of the burning mobile home,
reported the Orlando Sentinel.
"Although we never advise entering a building on fire, we must recognize the courage it took for those kids to risk their own lives to save the lives of others," said Fire Chief Otto Drozd III.
Stephanie Grimes, 26, Jeremiah Grimes' mother, told the newspaper she was proud of her son's actions.
"They did something most adults wouldn't even think of doing," she said to the Sentinel. "He didn't even think about it. He just did it."
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