ORLANDO, Fla. — Seven people were displaced Friday morning after a house fire in Pine Hills. 

  • 7 people live at the home on Bonnie Brae Circle
  • Firefighters in the neighborhood saw smoke, found fire
  • No one was injured, but 1 cat of several pets was killed

Three generations lived in the Galiley family home on Bonnie Brae Circle.

Mike Jachles with Orange County Fire Rescue said around 10:47 a.m. Friday an OCFR crew happened to be in the area when they saw the smoke and drove to the house. The home was already fully engulfed.

“On arrival the front of the house had flames straight through the back of the house, our first rescue fire fighter on scene called it in when she went to open the door she had flames coming out of the door,” Jachles said.

Samuel Galiley who lived at the home said they were unaware of the flames outside.

The six members of the family inside had escaped a short time before thanks to a man at a friend’s house next door.

“I smelled smoke and I said ‘are they barbecuing over there’ and I was like “I don’t know” and I looked around the corner and I saw the van on fire,” Bakari Eddwards said.

Eddwards said he didn’t even think before running over, through the flames, and pounding on the family’s front door and window trying to alert those inside. 

"And when I get him and his kids out, I got his dad and brought him out. I ran to the back to get to the mom because she was trapped," he said.

He ended up helping Samuel Galiley pull his parents and toddler aged daughters from the home.

“I Just know if it was my family, if it was me, if it was my mom, I’d want someone to do the same,” Eddwards said. “When you see something like that you don’t think, if you think you take too long, you just react and luckily I reacted in time because if I didn’t they probably wouldn’t be here, they’d be dead.”

Jachles said there did appear to be working smoke detectors inside the home.

The family had several dogs and cats; one cat died in the fire, and another was missing.

Investigators are working to determine the cause of the fire.