10-year-old who saved home from fire, named honorary fireman

For the first time in 25 years, a 10-year-old boy has been honored with the status of honorary Alachua County firefighter.

His quick thinking and calm demeanor saved his family home from burning down.

And those actions didn't just save his home, but the lives of all his family pets.

It started with a simple day of laundry in the Griseck family home. A routine load of towels was put into the dryer and set to run but as Jackson and his mother were about to leave to do errands, Jackson thought he could smell smoke.

"When we opened it there was smoke and flames coming out and all of a sudden I hear Beep Beep Beep."

That's how Jackson Griseck explains the situation, he was told to switch the laundry over before they left but when he got to his laundry room he knew something wasn't right.

"I heard popping and I said mom it smells like smoke and it smells like plastic is burning. So she came running and opened the dryer and it was pouring out flames and smoke and she was like hurry go to the kitchen to get a bowl of water. I was like I'm not going to have time to refill it so I just ran outside and called 911 and said mom get the water hose!"

Liz Griseck said, "the dryer was on fire on the inside, it was a load of towels and I quickly panicked."

Jackson, however, remained calm and called 911 on his own.

"(dispatch) 911 what is the address of your emergency...(Jackson)our dryer it had towels in it and it's on fire. (dispatch) okay well, I'm going to get some help out to you, you're doing a great job just stay on the phone with me okay."

Not only did he give detailed directions to his home and the situation but he also is being praised for relaying the dispatchers' instructions to his mom still inside.

Liz Griseck said, "he was yelling at me to get out of the house that the dispatcher had told him to get me out of the house. I told him I was putting the fire out and would be out in a minute. I remember him telling the dispatcher my mom isn't listening to directions."

For his bravery, Jackson received a certificate stating his honorary status as a firefighter, a fire/rescue pin and his own fire helmet with name engraved on it.

Jackson said, "I'm really happy our house didn't get burnt down because I would have been really sad for our dogs and cats."

Liz Griseck added, "we just told him over and over how proud of him we were and if it wasn't for him we probably would have lost the house. Because honestly we were about to leave and I can't imagine what would have happened to the house had we left."

For years Jackson has been interested in anything to do with firefighters. Station 24 where the fire trucks were dispatched from is a few miles from his home and he's been a regular visitor there.

Jackson says he remained calm during the 911 call because that's what the firefighters always told him to do.

The cause of the fire was an excess build up of lint which wasn't caught in the lint trap.