'Blessed to be alive': Phoenix teen recuperating from concussion escapes from fire that destroyed her home

Phoenix teen recuperating from concussion escapes from fire that destroyed her home

Maddison Porter was at home alone when the house caught on fire. While the fire destroyed her home, the family remains grateful. FOX 10's Irene Snyder reports.

PHOENIX - A north Phoenix teenager says she is blessed to be alive after escaping from a house fire that was captured on her doorbell camera.

Maddison Porter's two dogs were also home, and they had dozens of other animals on that property, and on Jan. 26, Maddison and her mother spoke out about the ordeal.

Maddison's mother had left the home about ten minutes before the fire broke out. She called her mom when she heard noises, stayed on the phone with her throughout the whole thing, and just managed to escape.

"Help me! Someone help me!" Maddison was heard saying on surveillance video. "Please! Help!"

At the time of the fire, Maddison was at home recovering from a concussion when she started hearing loud pops coming from the kitchen.

"What I thought it was, was someone who was barging into the house," said Maddison.

Maddison tried to open her bedroom door, but it wouldn't open.

"I looked down at my toes, and my toes were glowing, and I looked under the door and saw that my bathroom was on fire," said Maddison.

Maddison rushed to the window, but that way, at first, was also blocked.

"All of this was in front of my window, and I tried to lift it up, so I had to kick all of it out and scrimmage through here, and I just turned and saw that my house was on fire," said Maddison.

"We looked up and we could see from Carefree Highway, we could see the smoke, and she kept crying mom," said Casey Porter, Maddison's motherN. "The dogs are still inside. They won't let me get the dogs out, so as soon as I parked the truck, I got out and ran."

The dogs made it out safely, and no one else was hurt. While the home was destroyed, along with countless memories, the porter family remains grateful at the end of the day.

"A firefighter came up to me and said if I had been able to open my door, the flames and fumes would have overtaken me and I wouldn't be here," said Maddison. "There was a lady here who said 'God wasn't ready for you. He didn't open the door for you that day,' and I was extremely blessed."

At this point, the cause of the fire is unknown.

Donations

Finding Hope Sanctuary & American Equipment & Excavation have opened their locations for donations and will be holding a yard sale on Saturday.

All proceeds will go to rebuilding the Porter family’s life. The yard sale will be on 7th Street, just south of Desert Hills Drive, and I-17 and Carefree Highway.

The family is accepting monetary and gift card donations by mail. They can be sent to Arizona Foothills 911 and Casey Lynn Porter at 29455 N. Cave Creek Rd., Suite 118-288, Cave Creek, AZ 85331.