A Douglasville 8-year-old’s swift actions helped get his family out of their burning home before the fire and smoke spread, according to officials.
The boy was the first to hear the Opal Drive home’s fire alarms going off Monday and ran to alert his family members, county spokesperson Rick Martin said. The entire family and their pet were able to escape safely.
When Douglas County firefighters arrived, light smoke was coming from the two-story home, Martin said. Firefighters were able to quickly extinguish the flames that were coming from the home’s first floor.
“This is why it is so important to have working smoke alarms in all homes, because working smoke alarms, in most cases, give you time to escape before the fire and smoke spreads,” Eric Phillips, deputy fire chief of administration, said in a statement.
The cause of the fire appears to have been electrical, authorities said.
The fire department is offering and installing free residential smoke detectors to all Douglas County residents.
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