Indiana Man Runs Into Blaze And Saves Family
A Lafayette, Indiana man has been dubbed hero by local authorities after rushing head-first into a fire to rescue five people who were trapped inside a blazing inferno.
Police responded to a fire where they found the home engulfed in flames. Just minutes after they arrived, officers saw 25-year-old Nicholas Bostic jump through the window of the home’s second story with a 6-year-old child.
Extraordinary bodycam footage shows police arriving on the scene and learning that a man had run toward the home to alert the residents it was on fire. Then police can be seen telling the fire department that a young girl and a man in his 20s may still be inside — before the man is seen running from the burning house with the child in his arms. As responders are treating his wounds he asks, “Is the baby okay? Please tell me the baby is okay.” Officers tell him, “Yes, you did good, dude.”
Bostic suffered severe smoke inhalation and deep cuts on his right arm during the rescue and was airlifted to an Indianapolis hospital for treatment.
“What he described was nothing short of courageous and heroic,” said police in a release.
Bostic said he didn’t call 911 when he drove past the fire because he “didn’t want to waste time trying to find someone who could call it in” and “knew he had to act.” After yelling inside from the back door and getting no response, he “decided to go in” and found four occupants who ranged in age from 1-18.
“His yells of warning roused them from their sleep, and he helped them escape from the house,” say police.
After he got the first four outside, he learned there was a 6-year-old still inside and ran back in. Bostic went upstairs and was about to leave through a second-story window when he heard the child crying downstairs. “He knew he was there to get that child out, and even though the fire and smoke downstairs frightened him, he would not quit,” continued the release.
Bostic said he couldn’t see through the smoke and felt like he was “walking into an oven,” but he found the child by focusing on her cries. When they couldn’t find the front door, he then carried the child upstairs, punched out a window “with his bare hand” and jumped through it with her in his arms … “ensuring he landed on the side where he was not holding the child.”
“Nicholas Bostic’s heroic actions saved lives,” said Lafayette Police Department Lt Randy Shere. “His selflessness exhibited when he rushed into a burning Lafayette home to save children trapped inside is inspiring, and he has impressed many with his courage, tenacity, and steadfast calmness in the face of such perilous danger. “
The city went on to say that his heroics will be honored at a local baseball game next month, with proceeds from ticket sales going toward Bostic’s GoFundMe page.