A 2-year-old boy trapped inside a burning apartment building in Texas was rescued by brave firefighters who followed the helpless toddler's frantic cries.
Shortly after the Granbury Volunteer Fire Department arrived at the scene of the vicious fire early Sunday morning, Firefighter Jonathan Head sprung into action, breaking a second-floor bedroom window and searching for the suffering toddler.
With thick black smoke and flames obscuring his view, Mr Head broke through the window and managed to find the boy, Liam Keene, after hearing a reassuring sound.
“Every time he cried, I went there.” Head told CBS.
“When I confronted him, he screamed. That's how I knew I was doing him a favor. I picked him up out of pure excitement – when he actually moved around. It's a good sign that she's obviously crying.”
The harrowing rescue was captured on body camera footage.
Liam's mother, Phylicia Keene, woke up to the sound of breaking glass and saw her balcony in Granbury engulfed in flames. She panicked, but all she could do was grab her four-year-old son. He then ran out of his apartment and alerted his neighbors, CBS reported.
The distraught mother tried to re-enter the building, but the smoke was too thick.
When the firefighters arrived, they grabbed a ladder and rushed to the side of the building where Liam was, before Head smashed the window with an ax and removed Liam to safety.
“As a firefighter, it goes through my mind that there's an 80 percent chance that we're going to see the same outcome that we experience,” Granbury Fire Chief Bradley Snyder told CBS.
“But this time it's different. After just a few minutes, they managed to drag Liam alive out the window…I've been doing this job for 22 years and I'm glad it's going in the right direction.” This was literally the first time I had seen it.”
The newspaper said Liam was taken to Cooks Children's Hospital in Fort Worth and treated for carbon monoxide poisoning.
Her son is expected to make a full recovery, and Keene is grateful to the first responders who acted bravely and quickly to save her son.
“They are great heroes,” Keene told the outlet.
“The Angels don't get enough recognition. They went all out and didn't stop.”
