We rely on firefighters to rescue us.

But even a firefighter needs a hero from time to time.

When New Jersey volunteer firefighter Jimmy Karlbon’s house caught on fire, it wasn’t the smoke alarm that saved him.

It was his 6-year-old daughter.

Madalyn Karlbon was sound asleep when the smoke alarm went off at 2:30am in her family’s home. The alarm blared and the little girl said she immediately knew there was an emergency.

“I smelled the smoke and I heard the fire alarm,” Madalyn said.

Quickly, she said she ran downstairs where her mom was sleeping on the couch.

“I was sleeping. Then I woke up. I went to go downstairs and try to wake up mommy and I called daddy’s name,” Madalyn said.

It worked.

Jimmy Karlbon and his daughter, Madalyn. Photo courtesy of the Avenel Fire Department.

“I heard my daughter screaming, ‘There’s a fire! There’s a fire!’ So I jumped out of bed and when I realized the house is full of smoke already,” Jimmy said.

I’m used to always going in (to burning houses), not running out.”

Jumping into action, Jimmy quickly rounded up his family.

“When she was screaming, I remember waking up and upstairs was full of smoke already,” he said. “Couldn’t even see where Madalyn even was. I grabbed Hunter (his 2-year-old son). Madalyn was on the stairs. I grabbed Madalyn, put them on the front porch. I said, ‘Stay here, where is mommy?’ ‘Mommy is on the couch.'”

Jimmy grabbed his wife, and the family made it out safely.

Fire officials said the cause of the blaze was a stove fire. Madalyn’s mother, they said, had fallen asleep on the couch accidentally while something was cooking on the stove.

The house was deemed inhabitable, but said that because of Madalyn’s quick thinking, the house isn’t a total loss and can be repaired.

“Without any hesitation, she jumped into action and ultimately saved the lives of her family by remembering all she was taught during fire prevention week and through the vast knowledge that her dad and fellow firefighter family has instilled in her,” the Avenel Fire Department said in a post on Facebook.

Her mother said that it was a miracle that Madalyn heard the fire alarm, since the family is so used to there being noises at night.

“I don’t even hear the fire pager go off when he gets a call in the middle of the night. I’m so used to it and adjusted,” the mother said. “She’s my angel. She makes me so proud every day,” she added.

Madalyn and Hunter Karlbon. Photo courtesy of the Karlbon family

The fire department agreed.

“Madalyn, it goes without saying how bright and smart of a girl you are,” the department said. “This morning proved that!! You recognized danger immediately and were able to assist in getting everyone out of the house before the fire got worse. To say all of us here at the Avenel Fire Department are so proud of you is an understatement.”

Her father agreed.

“She saved our lives. Without her I probably wouldn’t be alive today,” her father said.

Watch the brave little girl talk about the rescue, below.

Sources: CBS News | ABC7NY | Inside Edition