The amazing account of how a young delivery driver became a world hero

If a hero can be perceived as one who possesses great bravery and carries out extraordinary or noble deeds, then 25-year-old Nicholas Bostic passes as one.

Bostic who was on his rounds as a pizza delivery driver had seen fire at a house in Lafayette, Indiana, just after midnight. And while many would have expected him to start calling for the attention of fire service men or best shout for help, he turned around and parked up on the driveway without a moment to waste in dialing 911 or finding someone else and hurried into the building.

As soon as he went through the front door he started shouting but nobody responded so he started searching the house and found everyone asleep.

He managed to get four people aged one to 18 out of the building before learning there was a six-year-old left inside.

Bostic displayed unparalleled bravery against all odds

He went in ‘without hesitation’ and searched upstairs where he had found the others. However, there was nobody there and he couldn’t get downstairs again because of a ‘black lagoon’ of smoke.

He went towards the window to escape when he heard a child’s cry coming from downstairs.

A police spokesman said: ‘Nicolas told me about an inner dialog he had with himself. He knew he was there to get that child out, and even though the fire and smoke downstairs frightened him, he would not quit.’

Bostic covered his mouth and nose and went into the darkness. He could not see and the heat felt like an oven.

He crawled on the ground, following the sound of the child’s cries. When he found her, he could not remember where the back door was and went back up the stairs.

Bostic punched a window to break it and stopped to detangle the child’s leg from a pull cord of the blinds.

‘He untangled the string and jumped from the window, ensuring he landed on the side where he was not holding the child,’ police stated. ‘He picked himself up off the ground and carried the girl to safety.’

The moment Bostic gave the girl to first responders and fell to the ground was captured by police bodycams.

Bostic jumped from the window around 12.36 am on July 11, six minutes later police and fire personnel received reports of a house fire on the 2200 block of Union Street. First responders arrived to find the home fully engulfed in flames.

The pizza delivery driver gravely cut his right arm and suffered severe smoke inhalation. The six-year-old girl was ‘miraculously mostly uninjured’, police said.

Bostic was airlifted to Indianapolis for treatment and recovered enough within a couple of days to recount the story to a law enforcement officer.

Thankfully, Bostic has recovered well enough within a couple of days

‘Nicholas Bostic’s heroic actions saved lives,’ the police department stated. ‘His selflessness during this incident is inspiring, and he has impressed many with his courage, tenacity and steadfast calmness in the face of such perilous danger.’

Unsurprisingly, a GoFundMe page for Bostic calling him a ‘hero’ has raised more than $381,000, exceeding its goal of $100,000.