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Amazing 7-year-old hero rescues babysitter's family from blazing inferno

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'I thought I heard, like, fireworks, but who could shoot fireworks late at night like that? It was fire.'

A 7-year-old boy woke in the middle of the night. What he did next saved give people's lives.

DeShawn saved five lives that night (Facebook).

DeShawn saved five lives that night (Facebook).

Highlights

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - DeShawn Labarriere was dropped off at his babysitter's home around 10:30 p.m. Friday night.

Brittany Labarriere, DeShawn's mother, told WREG the babysitter's house was near her own home, so when she got a phone call at 3 a.m. and heard there had been a fire, she rushed to the scene.


DeShawn was asleep on the babysitter's couch, near the wall where the fire started.

"I thought I heard, like, fireworks, but who could shoot fireworks late at night like that?" DeShawn recalled. "It was fire."

He jumped off his makeshift bed, threw a blanket over his head for protection, and started waking up the household.

When asked how he woke everyone in the dead of night, DeShawn answered: "Banking on the door so hard that everybody woke up, and then we ran outside."

DeShawn practiced fire safety and saved every life in the burning home that night.

DeShawn practiced fire safety and saved every life in the burning home that night (Daily Mail).


Not a single person in the home was injured during the fire, which quickly swept through the home.

"Words can't explain," Labarriere told first responders. "Thank God I live around the corner.

Labarriere believes her father, the late Lt. Joseph Labarriere, a volunteer fireman for 30 years and Harbor Police officer for 35 years, was present to help DeShawn wake and react in a safe manner.


"I know my dad was with him, my dad was there," Labarriere stated. "My father always instilled fire safety and what to do in case of an emergency."

Kenner Fire Department Chief John Hellmers stated: "It's rewarding for my men and women of the department to know the importance when they're out teaching fire education, that's really our best to do as fire prevention."

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