“He is our hero”: Five-year-old boy alerts sleeping parents to fire

SWANZEY, N.H. — A five-year-old boy alerted his sleeping parents to a fire on their Swanzey, N.H., property Sunday morning, enabling his family to get out safely.

Aksel Jalava woke up around 7 a.m., and looked out his bedroom window to see a fire in the garage they use for storage. The flames were quickly spreading to a second attached garage on their family farm.

Aksel knocked on his parents’ bedroom and calmly told them.

“I [woke] up because I was hungry. And I thought it was an orange light, but it was the fire,” Aksel told Boston 25 News by Zoom Monday. “I went to tell Daddy… I said, ‘Come and look at this.’”

Aksel’s father, Bryan, a corporal with the Windham County Sheriff’s Office in Vermont, said his son normally sleeps in but had happened to wake up early.

“There was just something in his voice, in his calmness, that wasn’t like, ‘I’m hungry,’ or whatever. He was just like, ‘Dad, you got to see this,’” Bryan Jalava recalled. “It was just a miracle. It would’ve spread to the house. If it was 15 minutes later, the whole house would’ve caught.”

Aksel, his siblings and his parents evacuated their home. Their many farm animals were also spared.

The Swanzey Fire Department kept the flames from reaching their home.

While the Jalavas are sad to have lost sentimental items in storage, they are proud of Aksel’s actions and grateful still to have what is most important.

“He is our hero. One hundred percent,” Bryan said. “Stuff can be replaced. We’re just glad no one was hurt – all our animals are okay, we’re okay – and the house is still intact.”

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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