{"id":2786,"date":"2025-09-12T12:54:32","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T12:54:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/topstoryus.com\/?p=2786"},"modified":"2025-09-12T12:54:32","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T12:54:32","slug":"uncle-left-with-third-degree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topstoryus.com\/?p=2786","title":{"rendered":"Uncle left with third-degree"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A Washington man is rightfully being hailed a hero after charging into a burning home to save his eight-year-old niece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reports detail how 20-year-old Derrick Byrd suffered second and third-degree burns on his face, back, and arms, having rushed into the building when he became aware his niece was trapped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to KOMO-TV, he said: \u201cEven though I got burnt, I really didn\u2019t care, though. I\u2019d rather get burnt than her. She\u2019s young. She\u2019s still got a lot of stuff going for her. She\u2019s a good kid.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The fire, at a home in Aberdeen, Washington is believed to have started while Byrd and six other family members were inside, including his sister, Kayla, and her three children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Byrd caught his nephews, Junior and Royce, when they jumped from a window on the second floor. His eight-year-old niece Mercedes, however, was too afraid to jump after having watched Kayla fall from the roof.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without thinking, Byrd dashed back into the house to rescue her. Within moments, he could feel the flames on him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI could feel it burning me,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI got her and took my shirt off and put it around her face so she wouldn\u2019t breathe in any smoke and I just carried her out as fast as I could.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

True hero
What\u2019s more, despite suffering injuries, Byrd said he would do it again if he had to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019d run back in there and do it again even if I got burnt worse or died.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commenting on all those dubbing him a hero, he simply replied: \u201cI can\u2019t say a hero. I\u2019d just say for my niece and nephews, I wasn\u2019t going to let them die.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What a genuine hero Derrick Byrd truly is. In moments like that, people\u2019s true colours are shown, and Derrick can certainly be proud of his.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Share this story to pay tribute to a real life hero, and to wish him a speedy recovery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Washington man is rightfully being hailed a hero after charging into a burning home to save his eight-year-old niece. Reports detail how 20-year-old Derrick Byrd suffered second and third-degree burns on his face, back, and arms, having rushed into the building when he became aware his niece was trapped. Speaking to KOMO-TV, he said:…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2787,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/topstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/topstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/topstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2786"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/topstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2786\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2788,"href":"https:\/\/topstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2786\/revisions\/2788"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/topstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}