‘It’s all because of her’: 11-year-old girl alerts family of house fire, helps them escape

An 11-year-old girl helped get her family out to safety after their house caught fire. (Source: WMC)
Published: Aug. 9, 2023 at 4:30 PM EDT

ARLINGTON, Tenn. (WMC/Gray News) - A brave and quick-thinking 11-year-old girl helped save her family from a house fire over the weekend.

WMC reports that Addisyn Carter woke up early Sunday morning to smoke coming out of the garage.

“There was smoke coming out of it [the garage] and I knew that wasn’t normal,” Addisyn said.

Immediately, she went to her parent’s room to wake them up.

“She was saying there’s a fire, something’s wrong, there’s smoke,” her mother, Sarah Carter, said.

Addisyn then ran to wake up her sister and put shoes on her grandmother. The 11-year-old reportedly stayed calm while getting everyone out of the house safely.

“When we got out, we noticed that half the house was on fire and Addisyn had opened the gate for us to get out,” Sarah Carter said.

Within five minutes, Addisyn helped get the family out along with her dog.

Now, she has a message for other kids who may go through emergency situations.

“If you know that something isn’t right, try to tell someone immediately because it could save your life,” Addisyn said.

Her mother said she’s proud of her daughter’s bravery and grateful that no one was injured.

“It was just a chain of events and then we were out. It’s all because of her,” Sarah Carter said.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.