5-year-old being credited with saving 9 people from Southwest Fresno house fire

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Fire officials say a five-year-old is to thank for saving nine people from a house fire in Southwest Fresno.

The young boy was playing outside Saturday afternoon when he saw smoke coming from his home near Kearney Boulevard and Stephens Avenue.

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.

The family will not be 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 no word on how the fire started.