When Hector Montoya was only 9-years-old, he happened to see one of the many horror stories regularly broadcasted on the news: a little girl’s parents had perished in a house fire.
Since he was confused as to why the family didn’t have a smoke detector, his grandmother simply said that “some people do and some people don’t.”
That wasn’t a good enough reason for Hector – so instead of using the $300 stashed away in his savings account for a new Playstation 4, the boy spent the money on smoke detectors.
Now 11-years-old, Hector has donated 6,425 smoke detectors to families across Texas.
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After his most recent contribution of 125 detectors to the Desoto Fire Department on Wednesday, the boy was honored for his generosity in a ceremony featuring local firefighters, his family, and the city mayor. The donations will be distributed throughout nearby senior homes in need.
Hector’s compassionate actions make sense considering he dreams of one day becoming a firefighter himself.
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“We have a fire academy here. We’re giving him a scholarship for the academy. He’s given so much, and we’re going to give a little back to him,” DeSoto Fire Rescue Chief Jerry Duffield told Inside Edition. “A smoke detector wakes [up families], gets them outside, saves their lives. Not only is Hector saving the lives of these folks who wake up and hear the alarm, he’s also saving the lives of the firefighters who are first to respond to a scene, having to make a tough decision about sending people in. There’s a lot of layers of what he’s done.”
Click To Share This Hot Story With Your Friends – Photo by City of Desoto, Texas – City Hall