‘I did what any parent would’
Daniel Thomas had just one thing on his mind when he raced into his burning house: His 13-month-old daughter.
He raced through the black smoke on hands and knees until he got to Addilynn’s room, grabbed her, and climbed out the window.
The family lives in a converted shed in Gordonton, just north of Hamilton, and fire broke out just before 5pm on Friday.
Daniel didn’t hesitate to rush into his daughter’s room.
‘‘I didn’t care about anything else in the house, just one thing,’’ he said.
Had he tried to reach Addilynn moments later, fire investigator Kevin Holmes believes he wouldn’t have been able to.
‘‘He’s really a hero, if it wasn’t for him doing what he did they might have lost that girl,’’ Holmes said.
This fire showed how smoke alarms could save lives, Holmes added.
Daniel said that he just did what any parent would, though he and wife Courtney are trying not to think about the what ifs.
On Friday evening, Addilynn was sleeping inside while Daniel was hanging an air conditioning unit.
He popped over to his parents’ home – on the same property – to tell wife Courtney Thomas he’d finished, then went back to the shed attached to the couple’s home to grab a few things.
Suddenly, he heard the smoke detectors, ran out and saw flames on the curtain through the window. ‘‘So I just sprinted as fast as I could to the door. I was going ‘no, no, no’. It was just black smoke right down to knee height.’’
Courtney had been in the other house with their almost-four-year-old twin sons Mason and Landen, who wanted to show off their new toys.
She ran back to their home, saw Daniel go in, then watched the flames spread.
By the time she raced around the outside to Addilynn’s room, Addilynn and Daniel were out.
‘‘Addilynn was awake because obviously the smoke alarms were going off. She just went ‘hey’ . . . always happy.’’
The family had always talked about fire escape plans, Daniel said, and he’d also just done a fire extinguisher refresher course through work.
It had got the family talking about contents insurance but they hadn’t got past getting quotes and doing the paperwork – which was sitting on their kitchen bench.
A Givealittle page set up to help the family get back on their feet has already raised more than $7000.
‘‘He’s really a hero, if it wasn’t for him doing what he did they might have lost that girl.’’
Kevin Holmes, fire investigator