WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — Firefighters in Winter Haven saved a mother and her four-year-old daughter after their house caught on fire early Thursday morning.
According to Winter Haven's public safety department, a neighbor called 911 after seeing flames from a home off of 11th Street SE, near Lake Otis and Lake Elbert. The fire was "shooting through the roof at the back of the house."
When firefighters responded shortly before 1:30 a.m., they tried to wake anyone up inside but were unable to. That's when they breached the front door and "heavy smoke billowed out." Once firefighters were inside, they found the mother who was "disoriented and obviously confused." They could tell she had just woken up and was unaware of the fire.
"When told the home was on fire, the mother immediately screamed about her daughter and ran back into the house to get her daughter," officials wrote in a Facebook post.
Firefighters went after the mother, and were able to successfully rescue the daughter as well, despite low visibility and heavy smoke.
Both the mother and daughter were evaluated by EMS and were said to be unhurt and didn't need any medical attention.
The fire was ultimately extinguished, although a cause of the fire is still under investigation.
The mother and daughter are said to be staying with family members and the Red Cross has been notified in case they require additional assistance.
“Our highly-trained firefighters ran into an extremely dangerous situation to rescue this mother and daughter and, no doubt, saved their lives,” Fire Chief Sonny Emery said in a statement. “I applaud the neighbor for the immediate call at the early-morning hour when most people are asleep.”
