CALLAHAN, Fla. -- Two year-old Avery Griffin is rather shy and quiet around new people but then it's a miracle he's able to meet new people at all after nearly losing his life in a devastating fire.
"If he was overcome by smoke before he screamed, we would not have gotten out of the house," said his mother Stacy as she recounted that morning in late January when their house in Callahan went up in flames.
It was 4 a.m. and little Avery's screams let everyone know the house was on fire. Dad and Yulee firefighter Matt Griffin got everyone up and out. Stacy and two older children got out unhurt. Matt had slight burns to his face but Avery was much worse off with first degree burns to his face and third degree burns to his arms .
"He was the closet to the fire and that's why he got more burns than my husband did," said Stacy. "But my husband was burned just from running into the room and getting [Avery]."
Avery was rushed to Shands in Gainesville and spent days in the hospital as doctors worked to repair the damage by grafting skin from his legs to help his arms heal. Last week, doctors told the Griffins, Avery was well enough to come home, which is now grandmother's house because his is gone.
"I can't even be brokenhearted about losing my home because I got my family," said Stacy. "We've been through a lot and everything else is skittles compared to being without him."
This is not the first time the Griffins lost their home to a fire. Four years ago, the house the were living in burned down because of a lightning strike.
