When Nicholas Bostic drove past a burning home around midnight last week, his first reaction was to head straight into the flames, regardless of any danger to himself.
The 25-year-old ran into the house from the back door and tried to alert anyone who was in the home. Unbeknownst to him, there were five children between the ages of 1 and 18 in the house.
Despite the danger, Bostic continued to get everybody’s attention and get them to safety. While on his rescue mission the children told him there was a 6-year-old trapped upstairs. Without a second thought, Bostic headed straight upstairs to find the child. He then picked up the child and jumped from a second-story window.
As Bostic shared with journalist Dave Bangbert:
“I mean, I was high-tailing it, 110%. It started to get hard to see, because the smoke was getting bad. I don’t know how to explain it, but it was like I accepted I was going to probably die, right there, that night. But it was a weird calm. You just got to work as fast as you can.”
According to Lafayette Police Department, the child was “miraculously mostly uninjured.”
The hero shared with Bangbert how he felt after landing from the perilous jump:
“That’s where I thought they found me, like I’d just had enough. I thought my last bit of energy was right there, where I landed. But I guess I had a little bit of an extra, I don’t know, extra backup – like a backup for the backup – for one last push … Sitting here telling you about it, it’s just unreal to me. It’s God, man. That’s all I can think of.”
Bostic suffered injuries, some requiring stitches in his hand, as well as severe smoke inhalation. But fortunately he’d had the reflex to cover his mouth and nose with his shirt.
While the firefighter-in-the making was focused on just getting the kids to safety, a video posted by the Lafayette Police Department gives us a little idea of how severe the fire was. And near the end of the video you can see that as he was being treated for his injuries, Bostic’s main concern was getting everybody to safety.
Naturally, Bostic is being hailed a hero. He has already met with the mayor of Lafayette, Tony Roswarski, and the children’s parents are obviously trying to cope with the ordeal, but have also shared with Bangert that they felt he was God-sent.
Bostic seems a little uncomfortable with his hero status, sharing: “Everyone says, hero-this or hero-that. I don’t know about that. I was just a guy.” Well, that’s one very courageous guy indeed!
A few fundraisers have been set up to help Bostic as he tackles his injuries and mounting bills, including a GoFundMe that has raised nearly $500,000.
