Firefighter Saves Toddler from Texas Apartment Fire: 'Every Time He Cried, That's Where I Went'

11/15/2024 06:27 PM

The toddler's mother, Phylicia Keen, said she saw her "windows breaking from flames" and grabbed her 4-year-old son, but her 2-year-old son was out of her reach

Local Texas firefighters became true heroes when they rescued a 2-year-old boy who was trapped inside an apartment engulfed in flames.

On Sunday, Nov. 10, firefighters from the Granbury Volunteer Fire Department and the North Hood Volunteer Fire Department responded to a call of a massive fire at a Granbury apartment building, the North Hood Volunteer Fire Department says in a statement shared with PEOPLE.

When firefighters arrived a woman was distraught that one of her two children was still inside, according to CBS News.

The toddler's mother, Phylicia Keen, told the outlet that after she "heard glass breaking" around 1 a.m. that morning she saw her "windows breaking from flames from my balcony" and then immediately grabbed her 4-year-old son, but 2-year-old Liam Keen was out of her reach. 

The fire department said in its statement to PEOPLE that the 2-year-old was trapped on the second-floor bedroom.

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"Unfortunately, I was only able to grab the closest one to me to get out, by the time I came back to get the baby the whole living room hallway was engulfed in black smoke," Keen told CBS News.

Related: https://people.com/search?q=toddler+fire+rescue

That's when firefighters sprang into action and made their way into the apartment to save little Liam from the increasing flames. 

North Hood County Volunteer Fire Department Lt. Jonathan Head, used an axe to break the apartment window to rescue the little boy – but said that the large amounts of smoke obscured his vision. "Whenever I broke into the window and I climbed in, there was a lot of questions, but you couldn't see nothing," he told CBS News.

Head said he was instantly comforted with hope when he heard Liam's cries, indicating that the toddler was luckily still alive. 

"I was just going by his voice," Head said. "Every time he cried, that's where I went. I brushed up against him and he let out a scream. So I knew I was on him. I picked him up out of pure excitement—that he was actually moving around ... obviously crying is a good sign."

Liam was taken to Cooks Children's Hospital after he was rescued and treated for carbon monoxide poisoning – and has made a full recovery less than a week after the harrowing incident. 

Meanwhile, Grandbury Fire Capt. Bradley Snyder said he was just happy that Liam's situation had a happy ending, which he said isn't generally the case. 

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"What goes through our head—as firefighters is it gonna be the same outcome that we see 80% of the time. But not this time. Just a few moments later, they manage to pull Liam through the window alive... I've been doing this for 22 years and this is literally the first time I saw it go the right way," he told CBS News.

Representatives from the Grandbury Fire Department did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.

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Keen told the outlet she was relieved when firefighters told her that Liam was crying because she initially feared he "was dead."

"Them telling me that he was crying was probably the best moment of my life," she said.