On February 13, a freak event caused a family's bedroom in Missouri to be engulfed in flames. A six-year-old boy named Steven Langley quickly noticed the fire and promptly alerted his mother, Shiann. She was able to evacuate everyone from the house, which was largely lost to the fire.
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According to KSDK, everything started when Shiann lit up a candle inside her bedroom. Shiann had done this many times in the past, so she had nothing to worry about.
"After I had gotten supper and everything ready," Shiann told the outlet. "I went just really quickly to jump into the shower, and before I did that, I lit a candle."
However, the candle she lit quickly ignited a fire, engulfing her bedroom in flames. Fortunately for everyone inside the house, Steven Langley smelled the smoke. He knew something was terribly wrong, so he went to get his mother.
"I was crying, and then I said, 'Mommy!' She jumped out of the shower, and then Daddy was downstairs helping," Steven said. When questioned, he said that he was thinking about doing "the right thing."
Steven's mother discovered the fire, which she described as a "freak accident."
"I don't know if the candle exploded or if it caught something on the bookcase on fire," Shiann said. "But by the time I got out, my whole entire bookcase was covered in flames."
The fire was already spreading to her children's room, so she decided to take everyone out of the house. "The smoke was all over the room, and it was suffocating, so I just grabbed a towel really quick, grabbed on my kids, and alerted my husband and my father-in-law downstairs, and we just ran outside," she added.
A 6-Year-Old Hero
After the fire was put out by firefighters, most of the family's house was destroyed. University City Deputy Fire Marshal Fred Kramer said that the smoke he saw was "one of the worst" he has ever seen in a fire of those characteristics. Kramer, however, focused mainly on Steven's quick thinking and heroism.
"The smoke could have hampered them from getting out of the house if he had not done what he did as quickly as he did," Kramer said. "When our crews got there, visibility was almost zero. He did a wonderful thing by getting them out as quickly as he could, saving them from becoming injured or worse."
"Six years old is not too young to learn about fire safety," Kramer added. He invited other families to teach their children about fire safety. "He did exactly what he was supposed to do and helped get his family out before the fire got worse," Kramer added.
A GoFundMe campaign was set up to help the Langley family recover from their material loss.
