Neighbor who rescued a 4-year-old from a house fire couldn’t understand why the mom was screaming — the heartbreaking truth left him shaken
Trigger warning: This story contains themes of child loss, which some readers may find distressing.
When a home catches fire, it can destroy not just property but the very fabric of a family. A Detroit family lost their six-year-old to a house fire, even though the mom tried to go back in and save the child. The woman was critically injured in the process. But thanks to the quick actions and attentiveness of a neighbor, her four-year-old boy remained safe. It all started when a fire broke out inside the family's house early in the morning on December 14, 2025, as reported by WXYZ Detroit.
The fire department arrived at the scene around 6 a.m. after receiving the call. But unfortunately, they couldn't reach the older child in time. "It's always sad whenever we lose somebody, but when it is a child, it really hits home to all of us," Leo Spitzig, Senior Chief, Detroit Fire Department, expressed. "Men and women of the Detroit Fire Department respond to these incidents, and when we can't make a rescue or something like this happens, it hits us all very, very hard." Marcus Hutton, the family's neighbor, heard the younger child's screams and saw him outside, per CBS Detroit. Hutton's alarm bells immediately went off at the sight.
"When I looked out of the window, I saw a little baby. The little four-year-old on the side of the house," Hutton said. He went out and brought the four-year-old inside his house to keep him safe. He saw the mom go inside the house for her other kid, but she couldn't get there in time. The mom was taken to the hospital in critical condition, and the younger child was being treated for smoke inhalation. "She was screaming. We couldn't understand what she was saying. I thought she only had one baby, but she had two," Hutton recounted. The gender of the child who died has not been confirmed.
The six-year-old was on the first floor of their Rutherford Street house and suffered severe burns, per WXYZ Detroit. The cause of the fire was still under investigation. The house was lost in the fire. One side of a neighboring house, belonging to Charlotte Baker, was also slightly burned. "I just got home from work, and to see a house that you just saw yesterday… and it's burnt up. That's horrible," Baker pointed out. She expressed her grief for the family. "That's heartbreaking. To lose your kid in the fire and you are going through your own, that's a lot of trauma."
Senior fire chief Spitzig issued a fire safety warning about space heaters that people should bear in mind during the winter. "Space heaters are always a problem; we try and educate the public about them, and unfortunately, things happen every year related to space heaters," Spitzig remarked. "This fire, like I said, is under investigation, so I don't know if that was the case here, but like everyone knows, when temperatures drop, people are using space heaters."
If you’re grieving the loss of a child or sibling and need help, please reach out to The Compassionate Friends at 1‑877‑969‑0010. http://compassionatefriends.org/