"If she hadn't discovered the fire when she did, then. I definitely believe the fire would have started in the attic," a fire department spokesman said.
A 4-year-old girl is being hailed a hero for alerting her family to a potential fire in their California home.
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Sammy Boyer, 4, of Irvine, was going upstairs to her room for a toy when she noticed white smoke coming from behind her door.
She calmly walked away and told her mom, "I can't go upstairs, there's smoke in my room," according to KCAL. Her mother, Kaitlyn Boyer was with her 2-year-old sister downstairs in the living room at the time.
"I smelled something strange, but I couldn't place it," her mother told InsideEdition.com. "I figured if it was something wrong, it had to be something we just used downstairs. I didn't think to look upstairs."
Sure enough, Boyer said she went to check out the source of the smoke, and immediately told her two daughters to evacuate the home.
"I kind of panicked a little bit," Boyer said, but eventually came to her senses, dialed 911 and waited for authorities outside with her daughters.
"If she hadn't discovered the fire when she did, then yes, I definitely believe the fire would have started in the attic," Officer Larry Kurtz from the Orange County Fire Authority told InsideEdition.com.
Kurtz explained the motor on the ceiling fan had malfunctioned, which he said was a common cause of most attic fires.
Because the Boyers also live in a town house complex, "if the fire had gotten up to the common attic space, it could have taken down not just their townhome, but three or four attached as well," Kurtz said.
But, little Sammy was well versed in identifying and responding to a fire. In fact, her mom said she had just learned it in her pre-school class earlier that day.
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"She had a fire-safe talk with her teacher that day," Boyer said. "When she saw it, she knew what it meant. She's pretty mature for a 4-year-old."
According to Kurtz, "This is a fantastic response. She noticed it so fast. [She deserves] a gold star."
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