A toddler walked into his parents' bedroom at 4:30 a.m. and saved their lives with two words

For parents of toddlers, a wake-up call at 4:30 a.m. is usually a nuisance. For Kayla and Nathan Dahl, it was a miracle.

In January 2022, the Texas couple was recovering from COVID-19. Like many who contracted the virus, they had lost their senses of taste and smell. So, when a fire broke out in their living room in the middle of the night, the acrid scent of smoke failed to wake them.

To make matters worse, their smoke detectors—which were less than a year old—did not go off. The family was sleeping soundly as their home in Alvord, Texas, began to burn.

A house on fireCanva

That is when their 2-year-old son, Brandon, walked into the master bedroom.

He tapped his mother on the foot and coughed. When that didn't fully rouse her, he spoke two simple words that saved the entire family.

"Momma, hot," he said.

Kayla initially thought the boy was just warm, but as she sat up and looked toward the door, she realized the terrifying truth.

A smoke detector covered in smokeCanva

"I turned around. I looked and all I saw was flames in the doorway," Kayla told Good Morning America.

The fire, which had started from a gas heater in the living room where Brandon had been sleeping, was spreading rapidly. The fact that the toddler managed to navigate through the flames to reach his parents' room uninjured was inexplicable to the family.

"He was wrapped in God's arms to help protect him and to make sure that our entire family was able to get out," Kayla said.

Once awake, the couple had seconds to act. They grabbed their five children and rushed out of the house just moments before the structure was completely engulfed.

"It's nothing short of a miracle," Nathan told WFAA. "We had seconds."

The house was reduced to ash. The family lost their cars and every possession they owned. However, standing outside and looking at the inferno, they knew they had kept the only thing that mattered.

"He saved our entire family," Kayla said of her son. "I mean, he's our little mini hero."

A GoFundMe campaign set up by a family friend, Chellsea Malson, helped the Dahls get back on their feet, raising over $30,000 for clothes and basic necessities. While the trauma of the fire was significant, the story serves as a powerful reminder of resilience—and the incredible intuition of a child who knew exactly what to do when the alarms failed.

Donate to Help the Dahl family out., organized by Chellsea Malson

The Dahl family gofundme gofund.me

This article originally appeared earlier this year.