Few young children can be counted on to stay off the iPad or other devices parents put in their hands to keep them quiet, much less be cognizant enough of their surroundings to notice a fire and save others from it, but that’s exactly what a little girl in Louisiana just did.
That little girl is six-year-old Arianna Prince. She was aware enough to notice when her family’s house caught on fire on September 23, then leaped into action to save her entire family from the roaring blaze that enveloped their home.
Misty Gorman, Arianna’s mother, said that she was asleep when the fire struck but Arianna heard the alarms and alerted the family, then helped get her brothers out of the house before it was too late, acting quickly to save the family.
“I didn’t even hear the smoke alarms. She did. So, she was very brave. She ran through the house, got me, and then, she ran and got her brothers out. Went and got a neighbor, and she got us out. So, we’re very proud of her,” Gorman said.
Arianna, commenting to local news station KNOE on what to do if there is a fire in the home, said, “You should stay calm, and you should crawl out of the fire. If you got on fire, you should roll, and then, you should call firefighters.”
Speaking to KTVE, Arianna said that she wasn’t scared by the situation, saying, “I was brave enough. I wasn’t even scared, like a little bit.” Then, explaining how she noticed the fire, she said, “My tummy was hurting, and I needed to go to the bathroom. All of a sudden, I looked up, and I saw fire in the cabinet. I saw it like this much, and then I looked for a second, and I realized there was fire.”
Then, commenting on what she did next, Arianna said, “I told [Gorman] the house was on fire, and then I ran into my brother’s room, unlocked their door, ran to the front door. I thought it was locked, but it wasn’t. My mom told me to go and knock on my neighbor’s door.”
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And, commenting on doing what is necessary even in unexpected and frightening circumstances, Arianna said, “You have to face your fears sometimes. Then you have to save your family because if you don’t, you won’t have a mom, no dad, no brothers. No nothing.”
Interim Fire Chief Mikala Weems, whose department granted Arianna the Citizen Lifesaving Award after the housefire incident, commenting on the devastating fire and Arianna’s quick-thinking, said, “This is a very tragic event, but I’m so grateful that we were able to save all of the human lives in this home. I’m so grateful to Arianna for waking up her family and getting them out of the house, so that we didn’t have more tragedy added to the losing of their home.”
Watch the report on that little girl here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video