Derrick Byrd, 20, is being praised as a hero after bravely running into a burning home in Aberdeen, Washington, to save his eight-year-old niece, Mercedes. The fire broke out while Byrd, his sister Kayla, and her three children were inside. As flames spread, Byrd caught his nephews Junior and Royce as they jumped from a second-story window. But Mercedes, frightened after watching her mother fall from the roof, was too scared to jump.
Without hesitation, Byrd ran back into the burning house. He suffered second- and third-degree burns to his face, arms, and back. “Even though I got burnt, I didn’t care,” he told KOMO-TV. “I’d rather get burnt than her.”
He wrapped Mercedes’ face in his shirt to protect her from smoke and carried her out. Despite his injuries, Byrd said he’d do it all again. “I wasn’t going to let them die,” he said. “They’re my family.”
