Laughter filled the halls as the Chase family's five children played in one of the home's front bedrooms. Their parents were busy wrapping Christmas presents in the back on Wednesday, December 14.
Suddenly, the scent of smoke caught Sarah's attention, but it was too late. Flames snaked their way through the house so quickly that by the time the family noticed, the fire had grown too intense for any of them to escape!
All five children were trapped in the bedroom, until 13-year-old Sarah decided she didn't have any choice but to break their AC unit in order to gain access to the window.
"I was scared, but I knew I had to get the kids out. And the only way was through the window," Sarah explains in the video below. "I was thinking, 'I'd rather face the wrath of my parents than die with all my siblings in there.'"
But she had some trouble convincing her 6-year-old sister, Meadow, to leave without their parents. She burst into tears and kept "screaming 'Mommy' and she was telling me, 'No. No, I gotta go to Mommy,'" explains Sarah. "And I just had to pick her up and put her out the window.”
Meanwhile, her parents were trapped on the other side of the house, unable to communicate with their children. "I went to go out the door and it was so hot that it singed my arm hairs and singed my face hair, so I shut the door," says Sarah's dad, Lewis.
When the parents finally kicked out their window and rushed to the front of the house, Sarah and her four siblings — Kirsten, Lewis, Denver, and Meadow — were already waiting safely out front.
"Sarah had already been banging on doors, 'My mom and dad are still in there,' you know, 'The house is on fire — somebody help!'" their mom, Bethany, explains.
The family is grateful for Sarah's quick thinking, and Meadow looks up to her big sister as her hero. Sarah doesn't particularly view herself as a hero, but she appreciates the kind words. "It makes me feel great, and I'm happy that my little sister's still alive," she says.
Though this family ended up losing all their possessions, all seven will be able to spend another Christmas as a family. They've set up a GoFundMe page to help. If you find Sarah's actions incredible, please SHARE her story with your family and friends!
