Hero 8-Y/O Boy Makes Ultimate Sacrifice: Saves 6 in Trailer Fire, Dies Trying to Save Disabled Uncle (VIDEO)

By Eric Corpus, Wednesday, January 22, 2014

With no school for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Tyler Doohan spent Sunday night with eight others at his grandfather's trailer in Penfield, New York. The trailer had been deemed unlivable on more than one occasion, and its occupancy of nine people was far too much for the run-down home.

An electrical fire started in the trailer around 4:45am Monday morning, and Tyler sprung into action. He helped six people escape the burning structure, including two children ages 4 and 6. He was trying to help his disabled uncle, Steven D. Smith, who used a wheelchair because he's missing part of a leg, when the fire overcame them. Tyler died in the blaze with Smith and his grandfather, Louis J. Beach.

Tyler, who was a 4th-grader in the Rochester area, is being remembered as a hero, and six of his family and friends live today because of his bravery and sacrificial love.