Tyler J. Doohan
(Photo courtesy indiatvnews.com)
(CNN) – An 8-year-old boy was killed in a mobile-home fire in upstate New York early Monday while attempting to rescue a disabled relative inside, according to authorities.
Tyler J. Doohan, of East Rochester, was staying at the home of relatives in the nearby town of Penfield on Sunday night when he noticed a fire in the single-wide trailer, said Penfield Fire Chief Chris Ebmeyer.
As firefighters and sheriff’s deputies responded to an emergency call around 4:45 a.m., Tyler was able to wake six other people in the small trailer, including two more children, ages 4 and 6, Ebmeyer said.
Then Tyler went back into the blaze to help his grandfather, who was disabled and would have been unable to get out of the home on his own, Ebmeyer said.
“By that time, the fire had traveled to the back of the trailer,” Ebmeyer said. “Unfortunately they both succumbed to heat and smoke.”
Their bodies were found together in a back bedroom.
Tyler’s uncle was also killed in the fire, his body found in a front room, Ebmeyer said.
Earlier, fire officials had released a mistaken version of the incident, where the grandfather and uncle’s locations were switched, due to incorrect information provided by a family member.
“It makes me really proud, it really does, but I just want him back,” Tyler’s mother, Crystal Vrooman, told CNN affiliate WHAM.
The boy broke away from his aunt outside the burning trailer and ran back inside to try to save his grandfather, she said.