A 12-year-old girl in Richmond Hill is being praised after her quick response helped save her two brothers from a house fire on Monday afternoon.

Macy had just gotten off her school bus when she saw her family’s home was burning. Her mother, Lisa Johnson, said Macy reacted immediately.

“You can see the moment where she realized that her house was burning,” Johnson recalled to WTVM News Leader 9. “She ran to the front door and just screamed into the house, ‘Get out. The house is on fire! The house is on fire!’”

Inside the home, Johnson said her two older sons did not know there was a fire.

One of them, 14, had come home from school sick and was asleep in a bedroom directly above the garage, where the fire had already begun to spread. The other was in the shower getting ready for work.

Johnson said neither of them heard or saw anything unusual until Macy started yelling.

“My 14-year-old… was sleeping. He had no idea,” Johnson said. “And my oldest son was preparing to go to work… again, had no idea until she started screaming.”

Macy’s warning gave both boys time to get out of the house.

Firefighters from Richmond Hill and Bryan County responded and contained the blaze before it destroyed the entire two-storey home.

Even so, the fire caused major damage. The family had moved into the house only a few months ago, and much of what they owned is now gone.

Johnson said the loss has been devastating, but her family is focused on the fact that they are all safe.

“Hard as it is to know that we’ve lost almost everything… we have each other and we have God,” Johnson said. “And I have faith in Him and there’s a reason for everything.”

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

For the Johnson family, Macy’s actions changed the outcome.

Johnson said her daughter saw the danger, ran to the door and shouted for her brothers to get out. Both were able to escape after hearing her cries.

A 14-year-old boy who had been asleep in a room above the garage and an older brother who was in the shower did not know anything was wrong until Macy yelled that the house was on fire.

Firefighters then managed to contain the blaze before it destroyed the full house, but the family is now dealing with the loss of much of what they owned after moving in only months ago.

“Hard as it is to know that we’ve lost almost everything… we have each other and we have God,” Johnson said.