ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind. — Veronica Reynolds never knew her 4-year-old son, Isaiah, would practice what she preached during a family crisis last week.
"I told him that if he ever seen a fire, he needs to find mommy or find an adult and tell somebody," Veronica told NBC affiliate WNDU.
On Jan. 18 around 4 a.m., Isaiah woke his mom up.
"He was jumping on me. I said, 'Bud, it's early. You know I don't gotta be up for work yet,' and he was like, 'No, Mommy, my eyes burn, and it's stinky,'" Veronica told WNDU.
Veronica then said she saw smoke throughout their South Bend home off of Locust Road. She said the fire was spreading from a bedroom where their family friend was staying.
"If he wouldn't have woken me up, I wasn't due to wake up for another hour or so," Veronica told WNDU. "I wouldn't know, I probably wouldn't have woken up. He probably could have suffered worse."
Their family friend lost everything in the fire. Veronica and Isaiah suffered from smoke inhalation, but Veronica is thankful nobody was seriously hurt.
"He's my little live hero. I'm very proud of how he knew what to do and how to wake me up," Veronica told WNDU, while also encouraging other parents to teach their kids about fire safety. "He was 3 when I sat and we did our routines. We've only done them twice, but I would recommend, you know, you never know what can happen."
Firefighters have not determined what started the fire.
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