Few adults possess the bravery that this seven-year-old kid displayed earlier this month. When his family’s house caught fire, Eli was the one who rescued his newborn sister from the flames.The Davidson family’s home in New Tazewell, Tennessee, caught fire late at night on December 8, 2020. Mom Nicole was the first to notice the smoke. Just minutes later, the house was entirely engulfed in flames. Nicole and her husband Chris acted quickly, taking their 2-year-old son Elijah and 7-year-old foster kid Eli from their rooms.

“He [Chris] grabbed the fire extinguisher, trying to buy me [Nicole] time to get the kids, and I grabbed the boys because they were closest to the fire,” Nicole recalls. Unfortunately, the smoke was too dense for them to enter Erin’s 22-month-old room.”The smoke and fire were so thick that there was no way I could get to her,” Chris Davidson, her father, told CNN.

The family stepped outside, thinking they might reach her through the window. Unfortunately, Chris had nothing to stand on and couldn’t quite reach the window. Their only alternative was to hoist Eli up and let him crawl through the window to Erin’s cot.”I thought I couldn’t do it, but then I said, ‘I got her, dad,'” Eli recalled. “I was scared, but I didn’t want to see my sister die.”

“It’s okay to be scared, but you’re brave on the inside and can do it when you want to,” he continued. Eli and Erin escaped safely through the window just in time. The house burned all night, and nothing remained by dawn. Of course, Eli’s parents are immensely proud of him. Many fully mature adults would not have the courage to undertake what he did. The Davidsons, on the other hand, have always sought to foster a strong sense of family in each of the children they help raise.

Chris and Nicole have fostered 34 children, one of whom is Eli. Elijah and Erin are both adopted children. Clearly, Eli’s sense of commitment to his family stems from the love he received from his foster parents.Nicole and Chris are both former firefighters who were laid off as a result of the pandemic.

The family has now lost their house and everything they own in a year that has already been difficult for them. “It’s heartbreaking. “We have nothing,” Chris says. “You’ve never been so humble as you are when you don’t even have your own underwear to wear.”