Hero boy honored

OCONTO - You don't typically see three-year-olds at city council meetings. But this is no ordinary three-year-old.

Last month, D.J. Flom helped save 21 people from a fire at this apartment building in Oconto.

His parents say it's miraculous.

"It's amazing," D.J.'s father David said. "If it wasn't for him, I don't think any of us would be here tonight," said David Flom.

He's a hero to a lot of people and to me," said D.J.'s mother, Melissa.

The fire started in D.J.'s room after midnight. A night light caught fire and spread to the wall and D.J.'s bed. The three-year-old woke up came into his parents' room.

"He said that his grandma woke him up and said his bed was on fire," said David Flom.

The strange thing is D.J.'s grandma had died two months earlier.

"I have to say there's angels watching over the kids because there's no way he would've been here walking out of there without a burn and he did. No burns whatsoever," said Melissa Flom.

Melissa got the kids out. David, a former volunteer firefighter, helped evacuate the building. He then put the fire out.

"I just reacted. If it wasn't for my training I probably would've just ran out the door with everybody else. But luckily, after all the training and years on the fire department my instincts kicked in and I knew exactly what had to be done and how to do it," said David Flom.

There was a smoke detector in the apartment when the fire broke out but D.J. woke up his parents before the detector went off. The fire department says if he hadn't things could've been much worse."

"His action were crucial in that fire being extinguished and stopping the loss that could've occurred," said Jack Mlnarik.

While the family did lose toys, clothes and their apartment, they still have what matter most.