GOSNELL, Ark. — After saving the lives of two children and a woman during a fire Dec. 16, 12-year-old Brock Moore said he felt like Batman.
The young man from Bay was awake at his dad’s house in Gosnell just before 1 a.m. Saturday when he began smelling smoke.
“I was trying to find it, and I looked up, and the vent had a lot of smoke coming out of it,” Brock said.
The Jonesboro Sun reports that Brock grabbed the two children in the house and got them outside. The children, Peyton, 8, and Paisley, 7, are the children of Samantha Wilbanks, his dad’s fiancée. After getting the children out of the house, Brock went back inside and carried Wilbanks’ mother, who is recovering from a broken leg suffered in a car accident, out of the house.
When Brock got outside, he realized the two children weren’t out there. Thinking they may have gone back in, Brock again went into the smoke-filled building to search for them. He found them back near their beds, confused by what was happening.
“The 7-year-old, Paisley, she was just standing there by her bed, crying,” Brock said. “I was like, ‘Come on, go outside, go outside, this is an actual fire, no joke.’”
Brock said the adrenaline kept him from being scared until he got everyone outside and saw the smoke turn into flames.
“Nothing’s scary until you get outside and you’re watching your house burn and you can’t do anything about it; that’s the scariest part,” Brock said.
Brock is a hero, according to Andrew Wyles, investigator with the Gosnell Fire Department.
“You never would’ve thought he would do something like that, but he was protecting his family,” Wyles said.
The fire started after an electrical malfunction between the attic and the master bedroom, Randy Moore said. Moore said the house was a total loss. While he and Wilbanks were not home at the time of the fire, Moore said he’s proud of his son.
“He’s got a good head on his shoulders,” Moore said. “He’s a good kid — cool, calm and collected. Until something like this happens, you don’t know what he’s going to do.”
Brock’s mom, Christy Moore, said her son was indeed like Batman.
“It was just kind of shocking,” Moore said. “You don’t expect your child to have to go in and save people. That’s kind of what the parents are supposed to be there for.”
Brock was taken to the emergency room after the fire when family members noticed he was coughing up blood. Other than getting two shots at the emergency room, Brock, along with everyone else in the house, was not injured.
Randy Moore said while he’s lost his home, he considers himself lucky since no one was seriously injured. Only one Christmas gift will need to be replaced, Moore said, and while the contents of the home were not insured, the home itself was. Moore said he’s received support from family and members of the community, including teachers at his daughter’s school.
“I can’t complain,” Moore said. “Between the community and teachers we always have a great support system. Other than just losing the home none of our children were hurt.”
While Brock saved lives Saturday night, his mom hopes it’s an experience that won’t need to be repeated again.
“I don’t think he should run back into burning houses again,” Christy Moore said.
