CORPUS CHRISTI, Tx — Investigators are trying to determine what started a house fire in the Brawner Parkway area Wednesday morning.
The fire happened on the 3500 block of Pecan Street just before 8 a.m. on Wednesday morning.
Fire investigators say a mother and her children were in the home when the fire broke out, however, they managed to get out of the home safely.
A young boy who lives in the neighborhood saw the smoke and fire as he was getting ready to do some work at his house.
"And I was like going to stretch, and then I started coughing, and when I saw it over there (points), there was like a whole lot of smoke over there like flames coming out of the sky. So, I called 911 on my phone just to help those people," said neighbor Jordan Gutierrez, who called 9-1-1.
Jordan Gutierrez wasn't the only one who knew exactly what to do. Corpus Christi firefighters say one of the children in the home also screamed for her mother to call 9-1-1.
"Pretty proud of that 5-year-old for knowing what to do, and her mother attributes it to us going to her school just a little bit ago and teaching them about fire safety, which is something we do all the time," said Batallion Chief David Saenz of the Coprus Christi Fire Department.
Batallion Chief Saenz says they like to start teaching children about fires at an early age so they can get familiar with firefighters and not be scared of their protective gear and equipment.
The mother managed to get all her children and the family pet out of the home quickly.
Fire officials say the fire started in a back room of the house, which sustained serious damage. An arson investigator is now trying to determine exactly what caused the blaze.
