When Fairfax County firefighters found two boys inside a fiery Virginia house earlier this month, 6-year-old William was shielding his younger brother, 3-year-old Zachariah, from the flames. Both boys were pulled from the fire and died days later, but their father says that heroic story has given the family faith.
Jamey Brice, the boys’ father, said firefighters who rescued his kids told him the only thing they could see through the flames and smoke in the Clifton house were the two boys huddled close together.
“Firefighters came in and talked to us and they described … how they saw William protecting Zachariah, how moved they were by the whole thing, and that they had the courage to come tell us,” Brice said. “We’re so grateful for that.”
The fire on April 10 sent five people to the hospital, including Brice’s two youngest sons.
They died on April 14, Brice said.
Brice’s parents and another one of his sons, 8-year-old Logan, were also inside the home when it caught fire. Those three were able to get out and are expected to survive.
Questions still remain about what happened.
“It was just a weird, freakish fire that we still don’t know what the cause was, or how it started or why it grew so fast,” Brice said.
Heroism on all fronts
“All four boys are a hero in the story,” Brice said of his children.
Logan called 911 after getting out of the flaming home, which Brice said contributed to a fast response from Fairfax County Fire and Rescue.
Both parents were at work when the fire broke out.
Their 13-year-old son Seth alerted them that a friend had texted him about a fire at his house — and the parents were able to quickly race home.
It was later the family learned how William had tried to protect his little brother.
Now, both William and Zachariah are donating their organs, which their father called yet one more act of heroism.
“Zachariah always followed William wherever he went,” Brice said. “William led the way down the hallway first, but then knowing that Zachariah is right behind him.”
The boys were able to be together during their surgeries, which Brice said has been a successful process of donating the organs so far.
Brice said the couple is hoping to meet the families of those who received the donated organs in the future. Among the organs that were able to be donated — both boys’ hearts.
“The idea that those two big hearts of love and joy are … going to hopefully live on in somebody else we know is going to be a total blessing,” he said.
“But at the same time somebody’s going to be buying a lot of chicken nuggets because William liked chicken nuggets,” he joked. “That’s about all he ate.”
‘William’s not here’: Healing from loss
In the days after the fire, while the boys remained hospitalized in critical condition, the family gained support from people around the U.S. who hoped the boys would miraculously survive.
Support from the family’s church, along with other churches, the community and even strangers, was moving, Brice said.
“They did such an amazing job, that we could focus on the kids,” he said, adding that supporters carried the family though.
Brice said “excellent care” from medical staff helped buy them time with the boys.
“We’re getting extra snuggles, we got to give them a bath, we got to get like their handprint,” he said.
After tests determined the boys were brain-dead, Brice said around 20 family members gathered and shared a different memory of the brothers.
While mourning the loss of the boys, along with their “many goals and dreams,” Brice said the family has been able to find peace, too.
“They don’t have to deal with all the things of this world that could like harm them,” Brice said. “All of a sudden, we got like, a peace at the same time.”
The couple has turned to their faith.
“If we didn’t have this faith, if we didn’t have this community … our mental health would not be in a good spot,” he said.
Meanwhile, Brice said his parents are suffering from “survivor’s guilt,” having made it out of the fire.
“They desperately were trying to go back in and get them but the fire … forced them all out of the house,” Brice said.
Logan is missing his best friend. That comes out at times, Brice said, including Tuesday when the boys normally would have been heading to taekwondo practice together.
“William and I were gonna both be black belts. But now, William’s not here,” Logan told his father, as Brice recalled.
‘Shine the light back’: Celebrating their lives
Brice said he and his wife want to write a book and make a YouTube channel to share their experience.
“We’re going to make sure people know their story,” he said.
A memorial service will be held at the Word of Life Church in Springfield, Virginia, on Saturday at 4 p.m. Brice is calling the event a “party” to celebrate the boys.
Attendees are being encouraged to wear the boys’ favorite colors, green for William and blue for Zachariah.
Brice said people can also come dressed as superheroes or in jerseys — William wanted to play in the NFL.
“We feel like we were hit by the darkness and we just want to shine the light back,” Brice said. “The best way to do that is just to be an example of faith.”
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