9-year-old hero honored in Hayward for saving family

HAYWARD, Calif. (KGO) -- When Hayward firefighters gave a fire safety lesson at Stonebrae Elementary School, they could only hope it would come in handy during an actual emergency. Wednesday night, a clever young girl was honored for using that knowledge to save her family.

It was a proud moment for Hayward teachers, firefighters and the little girl who put everything they taught her to good use.

"I ran to the bathroom over there," 9-year-old Galaxy Kung said.

Galaxy showed us her burnt out home and explained how she reacted and warned her sleeping parents the first floor was on fire. Galaxy said, "So I wetted two pieces of towel, one on my shoulder and one covering my nose and mouth.

Her mother and father did the same. They tried to take the stairs, but it was too late, so Galaxy told her parents to get on their hands and knees and crawl back to the room.

"I saw smoke coming from the bottom of the door, so I used the towel on my shoulder to stop the heavy smoke from coming in," Galaxy said.

Galaxy told her disoriented parents to escape from their second story window where construction workers were waiting with a ladder.

"I didn't even think that we had another alternative to get out from the window," Galaxy's dad Benny Kung said.

By the way, Galaxy's mother named her after the brand of a microwave oven that she had wanted to buy, but it was sold out.

When asked if his daughter Galaxy was more reliable than the microwave oven, Kung replied, "Oh Yeah. The microwave won't save my life."

In fact, firefighters say the cause of the fire was a faulty appliance in the kitchen.