Five-year-old Jayden Espinosa is being hailed a hero after alerting family and neighbors that a fire had broken out in his aunt's duplex home in Chicago and urging them to get to safety. His quick-thinking (at 4 in the morning, no less) proved life-saving, because the fire alarms had reportedly malfunctioned and most of the household was asleep. Ultimately, little Jayden helped save the lives of 13 people — an incredible feat for a kid who's barely out of kindergarten.
Jayden was having a sleepover at his aunt's home in Chicago's Back of the Yards neighborhood with his two sisters at the time but couldn't sleep.
That's why he just so happened to be up in the early morning hours. And as he sat in the living room watching TV, the little boy caught a whiff of something that just didn't smell right.
“I smelled the smoke and I got up and went outside,” Jayden told Fox 32 News, matter-of-factly.
Despite being all of 5 years old, he knew he had to act fast.
Jayden quickly ran to tell his aunt that the home was on fire and they needed to get out — now.
"I yelled to my auntie there was fire and the fire was coming from the ceiling," he said, according to WPVI. "And it was rushing down and down and down."
That's a terrifying sight for anyone to witness, let alone a small child. But by all accounts, the boy was fearless.
Jayden's quick-thinking proved even more fortunate because the home was a duplex, and neighbors were fast asleep downstairs.
They would have likely slept through the fire too, had Jayden not ran to alert them. Today, they're crediting the 5-year-old with saving their lives.
“If he didn’t wake us up, in those two minutes, we would have been out of there,” neighbor Nicole Peeples told CBS Chicago.
"[He was] trying to make sure everyone got out and I was thankful because I didn't expect that of him to be the hero," added Jayden's mother, Tracey, when speaking with WPVI. "To save everyone's life. He said, 'I saved everyone!'"
And in case you're wondering just how exactly a 5-year-old knew what to do in those crucial moments, Jayden says it's pretty simple.
“Because I’m smart and brilliant,” he told reporters. (And he's right about that one!)
The fire that broke out in his aunt's home wasn't a small matter, either. News footage captured the roaring flames reaching high above the home, which has been reduced to little more than charred remains and broken glass, according to CBS Chicago.
A GoFundMe page has since been set up to try to raise money for the displaced residents, who reportedly "lost everything." Luckily, though, they escaped with their lives — all thanks to one very brave little boy.
