Firefighters honor 9-year-old Chesterfield girl who helped save family

CHESTERFIELD, Va. (WWBT) - Chesterfield County firefighters honored a 9-year-old girl who alerted her family to a fire in their home earlier this month.

Firefighters were called to a home on Whirlaway Drive just after 6 a.m. Jan. 12 and found fire coming from a second-story bedroom.

“Mackenzie says she woke up feeling heat from a fire that had started under her loft bed,” Chesterfield Fire and EMS posted on Facebook. “She was able to wake her brother, sister, mom, and dad, who were all asleep, allowing them to get out of their Chesterfield home before fire engulfed the room.”

Two people were taken to the hospital for minor smoke inhalation and are now OK.

On Jan. 17, Mackenzie and her family stopped by Fire Station 7 to have dinner with firefighters and thank them for their help.

“But the firefighters had a surprise for Mackenzie too,” Chesterfield Fire and EMS said. “They purchased replacements of her and her siblings’ favorite toys that were lost in the fire and surprised the kids with them.”

Mackenzie also got a tour of the station and made her an honorary firefighter.

Fire officials say the cause of the fire was a space heater too close to combustible material.