A passerby saved Angel and her children from a house fire!
When a faulty electric heater caught fire in her home, Angel Fiorini and her three children needed an angel to save them!
Bedtime!” Angel Fiorini announced to her three children, seven-year- old Gianna; three-year- old Vinnie; and Rosalie, 17 months. Since their dad, Aaron, was visiting family, the little ones snuggled in bed with their mom.
But a few hours later, Angel awoke, barely able to breathe —and when she opened the bedroom door of their Newman Lake, Washington, home, she saw a terrifying orange glow. “Fire!” she gasped. In a panic, Angel grabbed Vinnie and Rosalie in her arms, stumbling down the porch steps and onto the lawn.
I’ll get you out!” Matt cried, gasping in the thick smoke
“Gianna!” she cried. Though there was now a wall of flames, Angel crawled back inside. But in the dense, inky smoke, she couldn’t fi nd her little girl.
Suddenly, Angel heard a faint, “Mom . . . ” Following the sound, she found Gianna cowering in a corner. “I’ve got you!” Angel choked.
But as they neared the front door, Angel passed out from smoke inhalation— and Gianna collapsed, too.
A few miles away, psychiatric nurse Matt Burson was fi nishing the extra shift he’d worked after some co-workers had unexpectedly called out sick.
“Ready?” he asked his friend and co-worker Nicholas.
“I really appreciate the ride,” replied Nicholas, who was new in town and didn’t have a car.
“No problem,” Matt smiled. But as they made a turn toward Nicholas’ place, he saw a bright, unmistakable haze.
“Call 911!” he told Nicholas, then jumped out of his car.
Peering over the fence, Matt—who had once been a volunteer fi refighter— saw two toddlers crying on the lawn.
Where are their folks? he wondered. Seeing the door partway open, Matt realized: They’re inside!
Pulling his shirt over his head, he raced inside, stretching his arms to feel walls, furniture . . . then a wisp of hair . . .
Matt pushed his arms under Angel’s shoulders and pulled, retracing his route to the front door. Nicholas and a neighbor helped carry Angel down the steps. But Matt wondered: Why would she have gone back inside if her kids were safely out?
Then it struck the father of four: There must be another child inside! And, racing back up the front stairs, he heard the tiny moan of a child!
Diving in, gasping in the tiny bit of air beneath the thick smoke, Matt found Gianna a few feet further inside from where he’d discovered Angel.
“I’ll get you out!” he cried, but . . . could he? Am I carrying her back the way I came— or deeper into the inferno? he wondered, disoriented.
Then Matt felt a gust of air. As he emerged, Nicholas helped him carry Gianna to her mom, who— gulping in fresh air again—had revived. Gathering Gianna, Vinnie and Rosalie in her arms, Angel murmured, “Thank you!”
Soon after, rescuers arrived. The two youngest were treated for minor burns and released to Aaron, who prayed as Angel and Gianna were flown to a Seattle burn center.
They’d suffered third- degree burns and severe smoke inhalation in the fi re, caused by a faulty space heater. In time, both recovered. Today, despite her scars, Angel considers her family incredibly blessed. “We’re alive. That’s what matters,” she insists. “I thank God for putting Matt on our block that night. He saved our lives!”
Matt, too, marvels at how everything fell into place.
“I can’t believe it was just coincidence. I think I was sent to that street for a reason,” he says. “And I’m glad I was there to help!”