Firefighters recall entering home to save 2-year-old from fire

SHELBY, N.C. — Firefighters had to crawl on their stomachs through a burning home to save a 2-year-old boy's life.

A fire broke out at the boy's home in Shelby on Wednesday night, and now the toddler is in the hospital.

The firemen who rescued that 2-year-old said their training prepared them for the rescue. The rest was from a higher power.

"We were there, but it was all through God's work. It was all him that was there helping us," Erik Allen with Shelby Fire Department said.

Eyewitness News was told the child's parents were outside when the fire started at about 9 p.m.

Their five children were inside. They could only rescue four of them.

Their neighbor heard police and the parents trying frantically to get to the 2-year-old.

"Police was knocking out the windows," said neighbor Jacqueline Goodard. "The parents were yelling, 'Come on out. You are not in trouble."

Capt. David Van Hoy and two other firefighters went in to get the toddler.

"You can't see your hand 6 inches in front of you. There is so much smoke silt," Van Hoy said.

They had a thermal imaging camera with them that gives a temperature reading.

"I saw temperatures around 1,000, 1,100 degrees," Van Hoy said.

Allen crawled on his belly to get under the smoke, searching from room to room.

He saw the child on the floor in his bedroom while above them flames were taking over the ceiling.

"I just scooped him up and started to get out of there," Allen said.

"He had probably just seconds to get out of that house," Van Hoy said.

Firefighters said the child was unresponsive as medics drove off with him.

"Just as quickly as we got the fire under control our whole shift got in a huddle and we said a prayer for that family," Van Hoy said.

An hour later, they learned he was alive.

He is at the Children's Burn Center in Winston Salem and it appears he will be OK.

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WSOC