Arlington 11-year-old alerts family of house fire, saving them

ARLINGTON, Tenn. (WMC) - One brave and quick-thinking 11-year-old in Arington saved her family from their burning house over the weekend.

Around 7 a.m. Sunday, 11-year-old Addisyn Carter woke up inside her home on Running Bird Lane and walked downstairs with her dog in hand. That’s when she saw something she had never seen before.

“And I saw that the garage door was like, there was like smoke all coming out of it, and I knew that wasn’t normal,” Addisyn said.

She knew then, she had to do something about it, quickly. Immediately, she went to her parents to wake them up. But at the time, she had no clue about the extent of the smoke.

“Even though I couldn’t really tell what she was saying, she was saying there’s a fire, something’s wrong, there’s smoke,” her mother, Sarah Carter said.

After waking up her parents, Addisyn knew the next step was to get everyone else out of the house. From waking up her sister to putting shoes on her grandmother, Addisyn stayed calm but moved quickly, knowing she didn’t have much time to get everyone out safely.

“When we got around, that’s when we realized that half the house was on fire, and Addison was actually opening the gate for us to like walk out,” Sarah said.

Within five minutes, Addisyn saved seven lives, including her dog. Now, she has a message for other kids who may go through emergency situations.

“And if you know that something isn’t right, try to tell someone immediately because it could save your life,” Addisyn said.

Her mother says she’s proud of her daughter’s bravery and very grateful to still have her family.

“It was just a chain of events and then we were out. It’s all because of her,” she said.

The family tells Action News 5 that the cause of the fire is still under investigation.

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