FRESNO, Calif. -- Fire officials say a 5-year-old is to thank for saving nine people from a house fire in California.
The young boy was playing outside Saturday afternoon when he saw smoke coming from his home in Fresno.
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Authorities say he ran inside to tell his mom, who then saw flames.
"They immediately evacuated...that would have alerted the occupants. This could have easily been a tragedy that would have been averted with a working smoke detector," Daniel Perkins of Fresno Fire said.
Firefighters say the damage to the home could have been prevented if there were working smoke detectors inside.
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The family was not able to return home Saturday night because firefighters were forced to create a hole in the roof to put out the flames.
At this time, there is no word on how the fire started.