Heroic Pizza Guy Rescues 5 Kids From Their Burning Home

Their oldest daughter called her parents in a panic, she couldn’t find several of her young siblings in the midst of a quickly growing fire.  An unexpected beacon of light came forth in the form of a twenty-five-year-old pizza delivery guy who happened to be at the right place, at the right time, but he did way more than expected.

This is why on such a quiet and warm Indiana night they decided that it would be the perfect opportunity to reignite romance and connect after not being able to go out one-on-one for some time. Utilizing some alone time seemed like the right decision.

Seionna’s youngest sibling is as young as one years old, six years-old, and thirteen. Her thirteen-year-old sibling also had a friend of the same age over, who planned to sleepover at their house that same night.

Yet, she couldn’t drift off too far into sleep. The baby could wake up at any time and call for her attention. As it turned out, the baby wasn’t the only reason that sleeping was not an option, it was about to be a fiery night. 

Across the street, a neighbor ordered an unsuspecting pizza. This pizza delivery guy doing his rounds, suddenly noticed that an apartment had more than the usual amount of light at this hour. Smoke began to emerge and then it dawned on him that the house was minutes away from being fully engulfed in flames.

He had just come out of an argument with his girlfriend and had decided to take his car out for some deliveries to clear his mind. Fate seemed to have a hand in bringing him to this family’s home at this specific time. 

He wasn’t sure if the house was empty and time was running out. There was only one option left. He had to act on his own, it was the moment of truth. He put his car in reverse, drove into the driveway, and went in through the back of the house.

He raced up the stairs and got into the house to find the kids. His shout awakened Seionna from sleep. She then grabbed the baby and woke up the other children before fleeing the burning house under Bostic’s direction.

“We were dead asleep, and all of a sudden there was Seionna yelling at us to get up, and this guy I’d never seen in my life standing over us, screaming that we had to get out,” Knifley said.

Thirteen-year-old Shaylee Barrett described how she felt during the intense moments. “For a minute I froze and I laid there because I was confused. That’s when we went downstairs and Nick was downstairs helping us,” she said.

“I asked them if anybody was left in there and that’s when they told me that the 6-year-old was,” Bostic said. After taking a deep breath, he raced back in to find the missing child, hoping that she had not been harmed by the flames.

At this time, the smoke was thicker and more dangerous. It took quite a while before he located the girl. At the time he did, visibility in the house was poor. He couldn’t find his way through to the entrance. He and the child were trapped.

As they got close enough to see the lights from the emergency vehicles, it dawned on them how serious the accident was. At this point, all they could do was hope that all their kids were safe.

Then he found a way. A way that could spell danger for him as well as it would for the child. He wasn’t bothered. He dashed to a nearby window, broke through it, and jumped out of the building, holding the girl in his arms.

He hadn’t had the time to examine his landing area or know the height he would be jumping from. All he knew was that it was his only chance, and he had to take it as quickly as possible.

“I don’t know how to explain it, but it was like I accepted I was going to probably die, right there, that night,” Bostic said as he talked to the press. “But it was a weird calm. You just got to work as fast as you can,” he added.

Bostic shielded the little girl from the force of impact as well as doing what he could to cushion himself from the blow. He landed on his right side, while he held on tightly to the kid. The kid’s name is Kaylani; her family calls her “Baby Kay.”

He summoned what was left of his energy, picked up the little girl, and dashed toward a team of first responders. Kaylani only suffered minor injuries and needed only little medical attention.

It had all come to a successful end. But how successful, he had no idea. He needed to be assured that the girl was fine. “Is the baby OK? Please tell me the baby’s OK,” he pleaded.

The medical personnel at the scene helped apply some first aid to his arm. His arm had gotten multiple cuts from the glass as he broke the house window. Bostic also learned that first responders had also rescued the family’s dog, Buffy.

He also suffered first-degree burns from the accident. Bostic had to spend several days at the hospital until he had healed significantly. At the time of writing, Bostic had fully recovered.

For a moment, his heart broke, and he only recovered when he got the news that she had been found and taken to an ambulance. The officers then told him about Bostic, who was essentially the reason his kids were still alive.

At that moment, he felt guilty for not being there when his kids needed him the most. What would have happened if Bostic wasn’t on the street at that moment? Would he have been able to live with himself, knowing that he left his kids alone in danger?

She might be a hero, but not on account of the events of that night. “I don’t think of myself as a hero at all; that’s just something you would just do,” she said.

“The wall in our living room was completely burned down,’ David said. “All that was left was ‘love,'” he continued, describing the word “love” which was written in their living room and was largely unaffected by the flames.

“God uses the most unlikely characters, he sent an angel,” David said about Bostic. David marked the new relationship by inviting Bostic and his girlfriend to dinner.

But in the case of the Barrett family’s burning house, Bostic made the right call. His intervention, even though it broke the rules, was timely and the right choice. But the outcome may not be the same for everyone. It’s still safer to call for help and stay away.

All the knowledge Bostic had was from watching shows such as Blue Bloods and Chicago PD. Other parents and the local government authority have also shown their appreciation and admiration for Bostic’s bravery.

Knifley’s aunt also set up a Facebook fundraiser for Bostic to show her gratitude for his intervention. A note in the fundraiser read “We are asking for donations for his hospital bills. Please find it in your heart to donate to Nick. Our Hero.” The fundraiser reached its $60,000 goal.

Bostic has this to say about being branded a hero. “I don’t know about that. I was just a guy. Like I keep saying, it’s not like I’m some superstar hero. I was at the right place, the right time, and, I guess, the right person.”