On December 1, 2016, a two-year-old boy named Alex Stephenson was severely burned in a house fire in Tulsa.

Jon Steiner, District Chief of the Tulsa Fire Department, remembers the tragic day, the image of the thick smoke and the shock of the toddler wrapped in a blanket.

“To see that image of a little boy, he’s only this big, and he was severely burned…”

Alex left a lasting impression on the firemen that day as he fought for his life.

But this story has a happy ending.

Nearly one year after the horrific incident, Alex and his family pulled up to station 18 — and the fire department was full of nerves and excitement upon reuniting with the boy they call their hero.