A six-year-old boy is being remembered as a hero after he was found shielding his little brother from a house fire that killed them both.

William Brice and his three-year-old brother Zachariah were trapped inside their grandparents’ burning home in Clifton, Virginia, while their parents were at work.

Their parents rushed home upon hearing of the blaze and found that their eight-year-old son and his grandparents had made it out safely. The couple’s 13-year-old son was at work with his mother.

William and Zachariah had not managed to escape the home.

Firefighters eventually pulled them both out and they were unresponsive for 45 minutes.

‘We were frightened to death. When they told us our two kids were really sick and really hurt we went into panic mode and just started praying,’ their father, James Brice, told WUSA9.

First responders administered CPR on the young siblings and their heartbeats came back and they were rushed to a hospital.

‘It was really painful because we could still see the heartbeat,’ said James.

‘Ultimately when they got to the testing there was no response and they weren’t able to do anything on their own.’

The brothers died next to each other of smoke inhalation four days after the April 10 fire.

‘They told us that when William and Zach were found, William was actually covering and protecting Zachariah like a shield,’ James said.

‘We knew that to be his character because that’s just who he is. He, himself, is a hero.’

The father added that ‘Zachariah was always following William everywhere and William was so proud. He would tell everyone, “That’s my baby brother.”‘

The boys will continue to be heroes after their own deaths, as their organs are being donated to other children in need of transplants.

‘The doctors said their organs were still strong,’ James told People.

Jecoliah Daniels, a spokesperson for the nonprofit organ procurement organization Infinite Legacy, commended the family for a ‘selfless and courageous decision on behalf of their sons’.

‘We also believe this will be healing and comforting to them as a family,’ Daniels told WUSA9, ‘To know that Zachariah and William live on.’

The brothers died a few months after four young children died in a house fire in Somers, Connecticut, after neighbors extinguished the blaze but were not able to save them. A few weeks after that in late January, a pastor died trying to rescue his two sons from their burning home in Pickaway County, Ohio.

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