Brockton, MA – A 9-year-old girl in Massachusetts used some tech savvy to help save her family from carbon monoxide poisoning last week.
Jayline Brandão was in her room on Oct. 28 when she heard her father call out for help before passing out in their home in Brockton, local Fox affiliate WFXT reported.
She ran to find both her parents unconscious in their bedroom, according to WFXT. She grabbed her dad’s iPhone, but it was locked.
“I unlocked it by using my dad’s face,” Jayline told WFXT.
The fourth-grader then dialed 911, and all five family members were taken to a hospital, WFXT reported. They have all recovered.
Locked iPhones also have an emergency call option.
The Brandão family had been using a generator to power parts of their home, about 20 miles south of Boston, after a nor’easter left them in the dark for three days, CNN reported. They attempted to use the generator safely, but set it up too close to their home, and the colorless, odorless carbon monoxide gas flooded the house.
Reports of carbon monoxide poisoning often follow dangerous weather events — like in New Orleans after Hurricane Ida and Texas after February’s disastrous winter storm — as people use generators to power their homes after losing connection to the electric grid.
First responders in Brockton responded to 20 carbon monoxide cases after the nor’easter, according to CNN.