LAKELAND, Fla. – In a matter of seconds, 9-year-old Zniayah Armstrong saved her family. 

“I told the kids to go outside so nothing bad would happen to them," she told Bay News 9's Katya Guillaume. "Then I got the neighbors".

Friday night did not go as planned for Armstrong, her grandmother, and her siblings.

“I was in the shower," the nine-year-old described. "And then the kids told me that the house was on fire.”

Her grandmother, Lanola Penix, was cooking dinner. She left the kitchen briefly and came back to heavy smoke. 

Penix then fell to her knees on the kitchen floor. 

Armstrong explained, “I came out and she was just sitting on the floor and I couldn’t pick her up cause I’m still small.” 

She did what any kid would do; she went to get help.

Across the road was her neighbor, George Lester, and his family.

“Instantly, I just picked her up and brought her out to safety and the kids were just hysterical, scared," Lester said. "I just didn’t think about it. I just went in and got her out of the house and did the right thing.”

Walking back into her home for the first time, Penix fights back her tears.

“How I feel, I’m scared," she said. "I’m afraid because I’m very hurt. I’m very hurt because my kids, my grandkids, I don’t have anywhere for them to come stay with me. Look at my house.” 

White walls are now black, and a kitchen is now in ashes.

“Look at all the pictures," she points. "They had all the pictures on the wall and it burned them down, all down the hall.”

Penix said she doesn’t know where she’d be if it wasn’t for the bravery of her 9-year-old granddaughter.

“I love that child. I’m so proud of her,” Lanola.

The proud grandma holds on tightly to her granddaughter.

Looking at her grandmother, Armstrong said, “My whole world”.

Thankful that the neighbors were home to help save her grandmother.