Teen Saves Family From House Fire In S.E. Oklahoma City

Jacqueline Sit, News 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- A mother is calling her daughter a hero after she helped her family escape a fire at their home near S.E. 19th Street and Prospect in Oklahoma City.

Seventeen-year-old Zaylii Silas said she woke up just before midnight Wednesday and smelled smoke. That's when she scrambled to wake up her little sister and mother.

"I was like, 'Mom, fire, fire.' And I'm running and I'm trying to get stuff. I'm trying to put it out," Silas said. "It was like a whole bunch of fire, and it was just burning, and I was like just  freaking out."

The family tried using a fire extinguisher to put out the flames, but it only left Beverly Jacobs with minor burns.

"I'm like, 'OMG! What's going on,' you know? Well then I'm like, 'I can't put this out," Jacobs said.

When the fire was too big to fight, Jacobs and her two daughters ran out with only the clothes on their backs. Scared and shaken up, Silas, a high school sophomore, said she looked in disbelief at where her bed used to be and everything she had, even her laptop.

Silas' 7-year-old sister is not dealing with the loss so well, but hope glimmered every time she found one of her most prized possessions.

Despite the devastation, Jacobs said she is counting her blessings and calling her daughter her hero.

"We'd still be asleep if we hadn't got up. We'd be burning like crisp like this place is," Jacobs said. "If we were asleep, we would've been gone."

Fire investigators said they believe the fire may have started when something was left too close to a space heater.

The Red Cross is assisting the family.