A community honored a teen for a valiant effort after a fatal fire last month. Michael Haney, 15, received an award for bravery after his work to save his family from a fire.
Haney remembers that night a month ago that changed his family's life forever. His family's home in Stockbridge caught fire.
"I remember waking up. My bed, half of it was on fire and my socks were on fire, burned the bottom of my foot and blistered it," said Haney.
Before Haney got himself out of the house, he made sure his parents were awake. He also tried to get his sister Karen to safety.
"I ran back upstairs, got my parents up. My dad was screaming for my mom to get up. My mom, she got halfway and my dad crawled in to get my mom and I was out and went back in to get my sister and I fell down behind the couch," said Haney.
"We would all have been dead because there was just too much smoke," said Michael's father.
Everyone except Karen made it out safe. So, it was with mixed feeling that the 9th grader received a medal from the Sons of the American Revolution citing his bravery.
"That's how most heroes are, they just feel it's their job to do it like a normal daily routine we would do but he did do a little more than a normal person would do," said Michael Tomme with the Sons of the American Revolution.
"Michael was very brave to risk his life to go back in after his sister. We typically wouldn't encourage people to do that but he did what he felt like he needed to do," said Henry County Fire Chief Bill Lacy.
Michael Haney said despite everything his family lost in this fire, if he had it to do all over again he would do everything the same way. That is, putting his family's safety above his own.
Doctors treated Haney for burns he suffered in the blaze. Most of the wounds healed completely except for burns and blisters to his feet.
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