‘I had to go in': Woodbridge man honored for rescuing his 4-year-old from fire

A Northern Virginia man will receive a "Hero's Award Proclamation" for rushing into a burning home and saving his young daughter from the fire.

Dominic Walker suffered third-degree burns when the home he was in outside of St. Louis blew up in July. His arms and legs remain covered as they heal from skin grafts.

Walker kicked out a window to escape the fire because the door was covered in flames. Once he got outside, he realized his daughter was still inside and went back to rescue her, finding her trapped underneath the collapsed roof burning on top of her.

“I went inside and I lifted it up and, and she came, and got her," Walker said.

He hoisted the fallen roof off 4-year-old Mariah as that roof burned the skin off of his body.

"I had to go in there and do that,” Walker said. “It just wouldn't have been any other way."

Walker’s mother told News4 she couldn’t recognize her son when she saw him in the hospital in July. He was put in a medically induced coma for three weeks.

“As soon as I woke up, I'm like, 'Where's Mariah? Is she okay?’" he said.

Her face was badly burned, but she's alive because of her dad.

The next time he saw her, the family celebrated her 5th birthday in the hospital. He got to see his little girl laugh and smile again, but she didn't recognize him, either.

“That hurt a lot, you know, and I’m sitting in a wheelchair, I couldn't really do much about it, but she did come up and gave me a hug,” Walker said. “And once she heard my voice, she was like, OK, that's dad."

Doctors weren't sure if or when he'd walk again, and talking again could have taken months. His doctors are blown away that he's already doing both, he said.

“You never really know what can change in five minutes,” Walker said. “Enjoy life and be more caring towards others.”

Prince William County will honor Walker at a ceremony on Saturday, Nov. 4 at 2 p.m.