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Early last Sunday morning, 11-year-old Addisyn Carter woke up to find smoke pouring out from around the garage door at her family’s Arlington, Tennessee, home. “I saw that the garage door was like, there was like smoke all coming out of it, and I knew that wasn’t normal,” she says.
Realizing the immediate danger, Addisyn ran to wake up her parents. “Even though I couldn’t really tell what she was saying, she was saying there’s a fire, something’s wrong, there’s smoke,” recalls Addisyn’s mom Sarah Carter. The tween then went to alert the rest of her family, waking her sister and grandmother. It wasn’t until the family was outside that it dawned on them how lucky they were. “When we got around, that’s when we realized that half the house was on fire,” Sarah explains.
In just a few minutes, Addisyn had managed to save her entire family and their dog. And the hero has these words of wisdom for other kids, should they find themselves in an emergency: “If you know that something isn’t right, try to tell someone immediately because it could save your life.” Addisyn’s family is grateful for her lifesaving act, saying it is only because of her that they’re alive today.