BUFFALO, N.Y. — 13-year-old, Serenity Austin, rescued from a Leroy Avenue house fire early Thursday morning is responsive and coherent according to her father Terrance Austin.
“I just, I break down because she’s laying there and I don’t want her to be laying there you know what I mean," Terrance said.
Friday, Serenity was caught in the back room on the top floor of a two unit home when Buffalo Fire crews removed her and transported her to the hospital. Serenity is in stable condition in the Intensive Care Unit at Oishei Children's Hospital.
“It could have been a lot worse certainly, thank god for the fire fighters they didn’t go in with the water, they went into save my granddaughter and I’m thankful because if it wasn’t for them, she wouldn’t be here," said Serenity's grandmother, Katrina Thomas.
The fire coming nearly two weeks after a fire on Shirley Avenue took three lives. The recent tragedies have her family doing all they can to remind the community that you can never be too careful.
"Have a plan in place in case of emergency because I never thought this would have happened but it did... you don’t know you just have to be prepared and teach your kids.” Thomas said.
Terrance says the cause of the fire is still under investigation but is believed to be accidental. Buffalo fire crews told him that the batteries in their apartment's kitchen were dead. Serenity is currently an eighth grader at the Harvey Austin School.
He's set up a GoFundMe for Serenity, which you can find here.
