A Wisconsin teenager is being praised for rescuing his four sisters from a house fire that occurred recently in Webster.
Parents Kelly and Jay Omar had been gone for approximately ten minutes on a trip to the grocery store when the children smelled smoke, WCCO reported Friday.
“And my sister just said it was really smoky and we looked behind us and the playpen was on fire,” Briar Omar recalled.
The children, whose ages range from six months to 13-years-old, were on the first floor of their home when Briar, the oldest, took action.
“My sisters. That was the first thing I thought of and I just knew I needed to get them out of the house,” he noted.
Their family had previously discussed what to do in an emergency, so he made sure they were safe then thought he could save the home using a fire extinguisher.
“It went up in bigger flames and I just couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t see and then I almost collapsed and then that’s when I felt my dog rub against me and I grabbed her and she led me out the doors,” Briar explained.
The pup, named Mandy, and Briar escaped the moment their parents arrived at the house.
“Until you physically saw every single child, it was terrifying,” Kelly stated.
The parents credit Briar with rescuing their family and although they are devastated by the loss, they remain grateful for what they have.
“We’re just so thankful that every single one of them made it out. So if it wasn’t for my son I don’t know where I’d be,” Kelly added.
According to WCCO, a nearby bar called Bumps Lakeside organized a ride to help the family recover.
In a Facebook post on Sunday, the establishment said with the community’s help, it was able to donate more than $1,200 to the Omar family:
In a previous post, the bar thanked firefighters for putting out the flames:
As of Monday afternoon, a GoFundMe page for the family has raised $4,261 of its $5,000 goal.
Officials are still investigating what caused the fire.