Brett Saunders has donated over a thousand fire alarms since he was eight-years-old. 

In 2019, his friend died in an accidental fire that also took the lives of two other boys.

“I found out he died in the fire. There was some other kids that I was really good friends that I didn’t want them to go like he did. So, I decided to give them smoke alarms," Saunders said.

In the months that followed, Saunders, now 11, raised money for smoke alarms and donated them to local kids. He decided to start with Herkimer elementary students and in time, expanded.

“I didn’t really feel that it was fair for Herkimer kids to get all the smoke alarms, so I decided Little Falls and then maybe they will end up to a lot of schools getting them," said Saunders.

Donations have made it possible for Saunders to give away well more than a thousand smoke alarms, handing them out through the Brett Saunders Fire Safety program.

Saunder's life-saving efforts are being recognized by the American Red Cross and he is celebrated as a Red Cross Real Hero.

“That he was able to take such a devastating situation and turn it into something positive is really, really fantastic. And that's the reason why the committee overwhelmingly decided to honor him because he's a young, young man and doing something so positive in the face of a tragedy," said Lisa Smith, the executive director of the American Red Cross Central and Northern New York Chapter.

The Red Cross teaches fire safety, helps create escape routes and installs smoke alarms free-of-charge.

“We have to go to the home and install them, not just so we can do the educational piece, but to make sure the detectors get put up on the walls,” Smith said.

Saunders showed there is no age requirement for being a hero.