Local

12-year-old wakes sleeping parents in burning home

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A DeKalb County family safely fled their burning home thanks to a 12-year-old.

It happened on Audubon Drive just before midnight Tuesday. Lily Massey said her parents were asleep when she realized what was happening.

"I smelled it in my room, and I noticed the power went out, and the smoke alarm was going off," she told Channel 2's Amy Napier Viteri.

She ran into her parents' bedroom yelling.

"I thought she was dreaming at first. (She said), 'Daddy, I think the house is on fire,' and I ran to the back of the room, and it was," John Massey said.

He said the fire started in a back room but it spread quickly.

"My dad started spraying the back porch and then, it spread to the attic," Lily said.

The cause of the fire is unclear.

"People say that they heard an explosion, like a transformer, but we're not really sure," Lily said.

The family said they lost everything in the fire but escaped just in time.

"The flames were moving pretty, pretty fast. We were out of the house in just a couple of minutes, and as fast as it spread, it was incredible," John Massey said.