Toddler Hailed as a Hero After Alerting Family to Fire

An Azusa family awakened by a toddler escaped unharmed when fire engulfed their home early Tuesday.

Two-year-old Emanuel Jimenez, who was sleeping in his grandparents’ bed, nudged awake his grandmother, Janice Jimenez, about 2:30 a.m. and gave the family enough time to flee, according to his family and authorities.

“We were asleep when he woke me up saying, ‘Nanna, Nanna, there is a noise.’ He was shaking my shoulders. He was very persistent,” Janice Jimenez said. “I got up and walked down the hall and the whole place was on fire. He saved us.”

Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Henry Rodriguez said Wednesday that a family member told firefighters that the battery had been removed from a smoke detector.

“This family could have been killed by this fire if the little boy had not awakened them,” said Azusa Police Cpl. Eric Sanchez. The fire damaged the rear of the house on O’Malley Avenue.

Later Tuesday morning, firefighters placed a county Fire Department helmet on Emanuel’s head while his grandfather, Felipe Jimenez, proclaimed him “our little hero.”

Authorities said the fire was caused by an arcing electrical circuit breaker in an enclosed porch at the rear of the home. The sparks ignited two gallons of torch fluid stored nearby.

The toddler’s mother, Lisa Jimenez, 19, who was out of the house when the fire erupted, said, “We lost most of our possessions. Even our portraits are gone.” But, she said of her son, “he saved my parents and brother’s lives.”