JASPER COUNTY — A 26-year-old Jasper County Sheriff's deputy saved a 3-year-old girl from a house fire Saturday night.
The fire happened around 11:00 p.m. in a house on FM 3414, one mile north of Highway 63 West.
Deputy Cody Downs happened to be in the area when he received a call about the house fire and was told that there was a 3-year-old child inside.
The two other children in the home, 5 and 7-years-old, were able to escape on their own.
"By the grace of God I happened to be in the area when the call dropped," Downs said, adding, "It was one of the scariest things I've been on because I didn't know if the child was breathing or not."
When Downs went inside the home he couldn't see anything. Blinded by the smoke, he had to feel his way around the house until he got to the bedroom.
Downs went to the bed and found the three year old under the blanket. She reached out to him and started crying.
"I knew, if there is a baby in this house I want to put the baby first. That's we do as a police officer, we put our training into action," Downs said.
The officer and baby were life-flighted to UTMB in Galveston. No one was burned, but they suffered from smoke inhalation.
Downs has been discharged from the hospital, and will rest for a few days before returning to work.