Holly MatkinTazewell, TN – A seven-year-old boy heroically jumped through the window of his baby sister’s room to rescue her from a fire that broke out inside their home earlier this month.
Chris and Nicole Davidson and their children, 22-month-old Erin, two-year-old Elijah, and seven-year-old Eli, were asleep in their beds when the terrifying blaze broke out on the night of Dec. 8, WVLT reported.
Nicole said she awoke during the night and realized her home was filled with smoke.
She and Chris, both former firefighters, jumped out of bed and ran to save their children from the flames, 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 recalled.
But when she reached the living room area, she was met by a wall of flames that prevented her from being able to reach Erin’s bedroom, WVLT reported.
“The scariest moment of my life was when I thought we couldn’t get her,” Nicole recalled, breaking down into tears.
Nicole and Chris stumbled outside with Elijah and Eli and headed for the window to Erin’s room.
“The smoke and fire was so thick there was no way I could get to her,” Chris told CNN. “We went outside to get to her from the window, but there was nothing for me to stand on to reach up there.”
That’s when Chris and Eli devised a plan to save her.
“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 brave seven-year-old recounted during an interview with WVLT.
After his father hoisted him through the broken-out window, Eli raced to Erin’s crib and scooped her up, then handed her to outside to his parents, WVLT reported.
Eli undoubtedly saved his little sister’s life. The home was fully engulfed by flames when nearly two dozen firefighters arrived at the scene a short while later, CNN reported.
“I was scared but I didn’t want my sister to die,” Eli said during a later interview outside the charred rubble of his family’s home, according to WVLT.
Chris said he and his wife “couldn’t be more proud of Eli,” CNN reported.
“He did something a grown man wouldn’t do,” Chris added.
Eli is one of 34 children the couple has fostered over the years, CNN reported.
They have adopted Elijah and Erin.
With the exception of one another, the family lost everything in the blaze.
“Our entire lives were in that home…It’s devastating. We have nothing,” “Chris told CNN. “You have never been as humble as you are when you don’t even have your own underwear to wear.”
A fundraising page established to help the family has raised over $331,000 so far.
The investigation into the cause of the fire remains ongoing, but investigators said they suspect it was caused by an electrical issue, WVLT reported.
