JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A 10-year-old is being called a hero after he got his family safely out of their home when it caught fire on New Year’s Day.
The fire happened early Friday morning in the Portside mobile home park off Beach Boulevard. The Cassady family said the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department believes the fire started from a firework landing on the roof.
“It happened so fast,” Kevin Cassady said. “You don’t really realize what happened until your looking there and you don’t really have a home to go back into.”
He said he, his wife and four children, ages 2 to 10, were asleep around 2 a.m. when Harlow, 10, noticed something was wrong.
“I smelled something that wasn’t good. I woke up, looked out the living room, didn’t see anything, so I went to the dining room looked out at the living room because of the light and I saw smoke,” Harlow Cassady said. “So that’s how I knew the house could probably be on fire.”
Harlow Cassady alerted his parents and helped his entire family get out just in time.
“Literally 2 or 3 minutes after being outside is when the ceiling collapsed and that was over our girls’ room,” Kevin Cassady said. “So if Harlow wasn’t there to wake us up, we might not have even been on this call.”
The fire destroyed the roof of the home. Smoke damage was evident, and debris was scattered everywhere.
“A neighbor on our street was shooting off fireworks all night and that’s what the fire department guessed is how the fire started,” Kevin Cassady said. “It was either a bottle rocket or one of the motors, the ashes from that exploded and came down and landed on the roof.”
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He said his family can no longer live in their home. He is hoping the fire does not set the tone for the rest of the year.
The Cassady family did get assistance from the Red Cross and donations from the community. The family is currently staying in a hotel and is unsure where to go next.
Anyone wishing to help the family can donate here.