A little girl is being called a hero after what she did early Tuesday morning.
LyNila Cain's actions are credited with rescuing her family after their house caught on fire.
The family was sleeping early Tuesday morning when a fire began in the kitchen and heavy smoke spread throughout the home. She said the sound of her baby brother coughing woke her up so she ran next door to get her neighbor.
LyNila, who is about to turn nine years old, then ran back inside the burning house filled with smoke.
"I ran and got my baby brother because he has asthma, he was almost fixing to die...I just ran outside. We fell and I got back up and ran, and put him in my friend's house," she said.
She told the neighbor where to go to find the other brother. With all children rescued from the home, there was only one person left inside, the mom's boyfriend.
PHOTOS | LyNila visits Atlanta Alive
He woke up not knowing the children had already been saved and stayed inside the smoke-filled home looking for them.
"He was thinking we were still in the house, so he was trying to bust out windows and looked in there, but he couldn't see anyone in there," LyNila said.
Atlanta firefighters said he suffered from smoke inhalation. They said he tried to play a role in the children's rescue.
The kids' mom was at work during the fire.
Photos | Sister, neighbor save boys from house fire
LyNila said when she saw the fire, it scared her.
"I've never been in a fire before," she said while crying.
But the third grader at Slater Elementary School in Southeast Atlanta said she learned how to react to fire in first grade.
"They told me if I see smoke, go down and crawl all the way out and if I have fire on my clothes, stop, drop, and roll," LyNila said.
Her current teacher said she's not surprised.
"She's a leader, she's focused and she's always paying attention," Dr. Tyletta Coney said.
However, Coney was shocked to see LyNila in school Tuesday morning.
"She told her mom that she still wanted to come to school and I was shocked. She's a strong girl, she holds her own."
Photos | Poplar Rock Ave. house fire
Photos | Third-grade hero visits Atlanta Alive
Fire officials said the fire started in the kitchen. It didn't spread far or do much damage, but it did produce heavy smoke throughout the home.
Because of LyNila's quick thinking, firefighters were able to get on the scene quickly to knock out the flames.
"I felt proud of myself because I saved my baby brother."
Her family is planning on celebrating her bravery and thanking her but when told she could get whatever she wanted, LyNila said, "A doll. My brothers made a mistake and broke the doll."
