The toddler just learning to speak saves his sleeping family with a word: “Fire!”

Aiden may only be 3 years old, but he was old enough to know that something was not going to recently with his family.

On Wednesday, when the toddler woke up in the room of his grandparents, the smell of smoke hung in the air. Her grandparents had already been to work and her parents were sleeping in another room.

“He was alone and must have noticed that something was not correct,” said Aiden’s grandfather Abel Sanchez, 57.

The toddler went to his parents’ room and began to shoot his mother’s covers. She did not immediately wake up, said Sanchez. He continued to shoot his covers to attract his attention and would not stop.

Aiden learns more words every day, said his grandfather. Sanchez and his family live in El Sereno in Los Angeles in the street from a fire station on North Eastern avenue. Her grandson regularly sees firefighters pass through the street with their howling sirens.

Thus, Wednesday morning as the house filled with smoke, the boy shouted one of the rare words he knows: “Fire! Fire!”

It did the trick, by waking up her parents and her little sister of 4 months. The family fled while smoke came out of the house, said Sanchez.

“At that time, the house was already black in smoke,” said Sanchez. “The fire had to start when he got out of the bed and went to wake up his mother.”

The cause of the fire is under investigation, according to the Los Angeles fire service, and 36 firefighters were able to extinguish the fire in 19 minutes.

Although the family is unable to live at home due to the damage caused by smoke, Sanchez attributes to their grandson to save the house.

“It’s our family hero,” said Sanchez.