Derrick Byrd’s story demonstrates that not all heroes wear capes. It’s not surprising that the villagers have hailed him as a hero for risking his own life to protect his niece and nephews. A fire broke out in Aberdeen, Washington, killing six people, including Derrick’s sister Kayla and her three children. Derrick, seeing that the house could catch fire at any moment, grabbed his nephews and jumped out of a second-story window with them.

Mercedes, his eight-year-old niece, saw her mother jump from the roof but decided not to join her. Derrick returned to the house without pausing to free his trapped niece. He felt the heat from the flames on his face as he entered, but getting out alive with Mercedes was more important. “I felt like it was burning me,” he explained. “I grabbed her, took my shirt off, wrapped it around her face so she wouldn’t breathe in any smoke, and just carried her out as quickly as I could.”

Derrick saved the day, but only after sustaining burns to his face, back, and arms. He was in excruciating pain and it took a long time for him to recover, but he says he would do it again if he had to. “Even though I got burned, I didn’t care. I’d rather burn myself than her. She is quite young. She still has a lot of things going for her. “She’s a nice kid,” he said to KOMO-TV.

“Even if I got worse burned or died, I’d run back in there and do it again.” When told he was being called a hero, Derrick responded modestly, “I can’t say a hero. I just wanted to express that I would not have wanted my nieces and nephews to perish.