Teen Saves 11-Year-Old Neighbor from Texas House Fire

A Texas teenager ran into a burning house Monday evening to save his 11-year-old neighbor trapped inside.

Gabriel Vivoni, 17, of Mansfield, took matters into his own hands when he ran inside the burning building after calling 911, and he ran outside the building with an 11-year-old who fell asleep watching television, the Dallas Morning News reported.

NBC 5 DFW reported Vivoni was on his way home from swimming practice at about 9:30 p.m. Monday when he noticed an orange glow coming from a garage door of a neighbor’s home.

When he looked at the scene a little bit more closely, Vivoni realized the orange glow was actually a fire and rushed to the front door of the home.

He knocked and rang the doorbell several times but no one answered. Vivoni then went to his own home to tell his parents and report the fire to 911 before returning to the scene of the fire.

Moments later, he found that the flames had engulfed the garage and lots of smoke had billowed from the garage door.

In a split second decision, Vivoni decided to dart through the burning garage to find his young neighbor asleep on the couch appearing to be unaware of what was happening.

“The boy was like, ‘Yo, what’s going on?’ And I was like, ‘Hey man, there’s a fire in your house right now. We gotta get out of here!’” Gabriel Vivoni told the Dallas Morning News.

CBS DFW reported that Vivoni was able to get the boy out of the house just as his parents arrived to find their house surrounded by flames.

No injuries were reported.

Mansfield Fire Rescue Assistant Chief Jeff Smith called the teen “very brave” and said the fire department is looking into recognizing the teen and giving him an award at one of the next few city council meetings.

The family that lost their home is staying at a local hotel.

Officials are still investigating the cause of the fire.