When flames engulfed her home nearly a year ago and her youngest son couldn’t escape, Stephanie McDougall acted without hesitation.

She crawled through the thick black smoke to reach the 11-year-old, who has a disability.

"I knew that I had to be there for Malcolm. I couldn't leave him there. I didn't care about anything else,” she recalled about the night of Dec. 3, 2024.

Mother 'walked through fire' to save son from burning house

Her two older boys had made it out of the townhouse on Twyford Street, but firefighters had to rescue McDougall and her youngest son from the kitchen floor as the fire intensified.

McDougall didn't know if they'd make it out alive.

"I was just praying and hoping that we would be rescued by someone," she said. "I thought we were both going to die that day."

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