Teen’s Netflix Binge of ‘The Flash’ Saves Family’s Life

On television, Barry Allen is Central City’s hero, but thanks to binge-watching the DC series on Netflix, one Delaware teen is a hero in real-life.

On Tuesday night, 13-year-old Damir Carter stayed up well past his 9:30 p.m. bedtime watching The Flash on Netflix on his phone despite his mother telling him not to. However, around 1 a.m. Damir started hearing what he thought was the family cat knocking things over in the bathroom only to discover it was a fire instead.

“I went to get up to check on her and then I saw smoke in my hallway and then I saw the fire,” Carter explained to NBC Philadelphia.

Damir immediately began yelling for his parents, waking his mother. The pair were able to get out of their trailer home and open doors so that their pets could also escape, though four dogs, a cat, and three bearded dragons did not survive. The teen’s father was working an overnight shift and was not home at the time of the fire. The family was later told that the fire was caused by a power strip that overheated.

“If he was not awake I don’t know the outcome because as soon as I had found out it was about four minutes and my kitchen was in flames,” his mother Angela Borden said.

Sadly, this is not the first time the family has lost their home to fire. Four years ago another fire destroyed their old home. However, despite losing possessions, their pets, and another home, Borden said that she was happy she and her son were safe — and Damir was off the hook for defying his mother’s orders to go to bed this time, too.

“He didn’t get grounded this time,” she said.

As for The Flash‘s television heroics, fans of the series won’t have to wait too much longer for it to return from the winter break. The series will return on January 15th with “The Flash and the Furious.”

The Flash airs on Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW. Beginning on January 15, episodes of Roswell, New Mexico will air following The Flash at 9 p.m.