CARENCRO, La. (KLFY)–Alton Thomas, a local veteran, is being hailed a hero after saving a woman and her children from a burning home five days ago.

Thomas recalled how the fire happened on Boston Court Road and broke out in the garage of the woman’s home, prompting him to rush over and assist in the evacuation of the family. He said that’s when he rushed over to make sure everyone could get out safely.

“When I turned around and looked up again, I seen it was much more smoke than that,” Thomas said. “I came and ran up the street and when I noticed that it was a lot of chaos going on, the garage was up in fire, so I left and ran back home and I grabbed my fire extinguisher, and gas mask.”

Thomas described the scene as chaotic, as he said he saw the woman’s children outside pleading for help.

“They had one kid that was standing right here and two more that was inside of the house, so the kid on the outside was like, save my mom, save my mom, the house is on fire,” said Thomas. “When I turned to the garage, I looked and seen it was just all up in smoke with fire everywhere,”

Despite this, Thomas was able to successfully help the family escape. The Carencro Fire Department, with help from the Scott Fire Department, were able to put out the flames. Only the garage of the home was damaged.

While none of the children were injured, the woman is currently recovering at a Baton Rouge hospital due to fourth degree burns from the fire. Thomas said he is grateful he was able to be in the right place at the right time to help the family in need.

“It was the armor of God that was upon all of us to do this, this was all God,” said Thomas. “He did it all he just worked through me, I was in the right place at the right time to save these people from extended burns and the house burning down,” said Thomas.

All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by KLFY. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat from a broadcast script into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by KLFY staff before being published.

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