A Indiana Pizza delivery man was hailed as a hero after he ran into a burning house to save two children and three teenagers from a fire.
Nicholas Bostic, 25, was driving past the Lafayette home when he spotted the fire and rushed inside to escort an 18-year-old and four teenagers to safety.
According to officials, four siblings aged 1, 6, 13 and 18 and a 13-year-old who was staying with him were saved by his brave actions.
Mr Bostic says he didn’t have his phone with him and couldn’t call 911, so he ran to the back door and went upstairs before taking some of the youths out.
When they told him the six-year-old was still inside, he went back into the fire and found her despite the thick smoke. He then smashed a window so they could get to safety.
Mr Bostic was taken to hospital with severe smoke inhalation and a serious laceration to his arm, police said. Now he has been released.
“The father said he would like to take me out to dinner. They have open arms welcoming me as part of their family,” he told ABC7 Chicago.
(Lafayette Police Department)
“I’m glad I was in the right place at the right time. If the opportunity presented itself again and I had to do it, I would do it.
“I knew what I was risking. I knew in the next second that it could be my life. But every second counted.”
The children’s parents, David and Tiera Barrett, had been out on a rendezvous and returned to find emergency vehicles outside their home.
“I literally told him he’s part of our family now,” said David Barrett The perdue exponent.
“And he was totally into it. Once we’re settled somewhere, we’ll take him and his girlfriend over for dinner.”
