A man has been branded as a hero after bursting into a stranger’s home to save five siblings who got trapped inside the house during a fire.
25-year-old Nick Bostic from Lafayette, Indiana, was on his way to a gas station when he passed a home on Union Street that appeared to be on fire.
Seeing the flames spreading through the windows and to the porch of the home, the young man immediately hit the brakes, exited his vehicle, and ran towards the burning house with no regard for his own safety.
Putting his life in danger, he then entered the burning building and searched for survivors.
“I saw the fire on the balcony so I slammed on the brakes, pulled in the driveway, and ran into the house from the back. I was hollering ‘Is there anybody in there?’” Bostic said in an interview with Fox 59.
While inside the home, the 25-year-old came across four siblings aged between 1 and 18 who ran down the stairs after hearing him screaming.
After taking the kids to safety, Bostic asked them if there was anyone else in the home and they told him their six-year-old sibling was still on the second floor.
Suffocating from the smoke that appeared “out of nowhere,” the young hero charged upstairs and began searching rooms for the 6-year-old.
“It started to get hard to see, because the smoke was getting bad. I don’t know how to explain it, but it was like I accepted I was going to probably die, right there, that night. But it was a weird calm. You just got to work as fast as you can,” Bostic added.
After following the sound of crying and finding the child, the 25-year-old was forced to think fast as fire and smoke had already taken over the first floor.
As a last resort, Nick smashed the window in the room, picked up the 6-year-old, and jumped out of the house from the second floor to escape the blaze.
Following the dramatic rescue, Bostic was airlifted to the hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation and injuries to his back, ankle, and arm. Except for the six-year-old who suffered minor injuries, the siblings survived the ordeal unharmed thanks to the stranger’s bravery.
The Lafayette Police and Mayor Tony Roswarski have since dubbed the young man a hero and applauded him for “selflessness” and “steadfast calmness in the face of such perilous danger.”
Meanwhile, Bostic’s cousin launched a GoFundMe page to help raise funds needed to pay for the 25-year-old’s medical expenses.
Despite people calling him a hero, Bostic remained humble as he suggested he was just doing the right thing in an interview with Fox News.
“I was at the right place, the right time, and, I guess, the right person,” he said. “If it were me up there trapped, or asleep and there was a fire, I’d be hoping that the guy driving would consider doing the same if they were able to.”
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