Boy, 5, saves family from burning home 2 days after fire safety class

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. -- A 5-year-old boy is being hailed a hero after saving his grandmother from their burning home in Phelan, Calif.

Nathaniel Stocks may be young, but his mind is sharp. When the boy awoke early Saturday to find smoke in his home, he knew exactly what to do.

"Stop and then drop and then roll," he said. "When there's a fire in your room, and the smoke goes high, you should get down and crawl to your door."

Nathaniel crawled beneath the smoke to his grandma's room and woke her up.

"I told my nanny what to do," Nathaniel said.

His grandmother, Kimberly Ratliff, said when she opened the door, the flames were huge. A space heater had caught fire inside their home.

"I knew we were going to lose the house at that point," she said.

The two got out safely, but they couldn't find their little Chihuahua Tinkerbell. Ratliff wanted to go back inside, but Nathaniel told her to stay out, knowing it would be too dangerous.

How did Nathaniel know just what to do? He and a bunch of his friends attended a class on fire safety just two days prior to the house fire.

Even though the house was gutted, no one was hurt in the fire. Even Tinkerbell is OK.

"I would have my stuff burn 10 times over than to have my mom, and son and my Chihuahua here," said Nathaniel's mother, Brianna Stocks.
Copyright © 2020 KABC-TV. All Rights Reserved.