TAMPA, FLA. (WSVN) - A family in Tampa is just happy to be alive after a 12-year-old helped his siblings escape a raging house fire.
Rana Harb lost all her belongings when the fire destroyed her home but she’s glad to still have her kids.
She said her 12-year-old son jumped into action, ensuring his siblings got out of the smoke-filled home safely.
“The smoke’s getting bad, smoke’s getting bad. And he said, ‘OK, let’s go outside.’ So he gathered both of them and took them out the door with the neighbor,” said Harb.
Harb says her son’s heroic actions didn’t stop there.
After securing his siblings, he even attempted to fight the fire.
“He ran back in with the neighbor. That’s when they started using the fire extinguishers and nothing was stopping the flames,” said Harb.
The mother says the fire started on accident due to a candle while the kids were at home with a babysitter.
Despite the damage caused to all their belongings, she’s assured her son that he managed to save what was most important.
“My 12-year-old is my hero. He said, ‘Mom, I didn’t save anything.’ And I said, ‘But you still saved me. You saved your siblings. And you guys, you saved yourself,'” said Harb.
It’s not the first time that her family has had to start over.
Harb says they had moved there after getting away from a dangerous living situation.
“I started in this apartment with literally a blow-up mattress for my children and a trash bag full of clothes to use as a pillow as I slept on the floor,” said Harb.
Since there are no homeless shelters in the area, the family is staying at a motel.
“They already went through enough trauma. They don’t need to go through more trauma of switching schools,” said Harb.
In the face of devastating times for her family, the motel owner, Ileana Szasz, offered a small gesture of kindness, giving them a few nights free of charge while they recover from the ordeal.
“The Lord has called us to be good stewards, you know, and my motel is actually a ministry,” said Szasz. “If she ever goes through any hardship financially, we’re going to be there to back her up.
Szasz wasn’t the only member from the community stepping up to help. Several others filled the family’s motel room with donations in a sign of support.
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