Nearly 20 years ago, a fire left Ka’Miya Baumler with third-degree burns covering more than half her body. Today she wears the uniform of a Jacksonville Fire Rescue Department firefighter, answering the same kinds of emergencies that nearly killed her as a child.
Baumler’s story was shared this week in a video from the Jacksonville Fire Rescue Department, timed to Fire Prevention Week. The department’s post describes how the fire that scarred her body also set her on a path toward the job she holds now, responding to fire emergencies as a JFRD firefighter.
In the video, Baumler reflects on how far she has come since that childhood fire. “If little me could see me in this uniform today, she would say, that is one brave woman,” she said, according to the department’s post.
From Survivor to First Responder
Baumler now spends part of her work advocating for fire safety education aimed at children, pushing the same kind of early awareness that she says can make the difference between escape and tragedy. The department’s account does not detail when or where the fire that injured her took place, nor does it specify her age at the time, her medical treatment, or how long she has served with JFRD.
Fire officials elsewhere in Jacksonville have stressed similar lessons after close calls in local homes. In January 2022, a Jacksonville family escaped a house fire uninjured even though the blaze left their home unlivable and its cause unknown, according to News4JAX. “Fortunately, everyone managed to escape uninjured,” the outlet reported at the time.
Why Early Warning Matters
Jacksonville Fire Chief Keith Powers told the station that a working smoke detector can be the difference between a close call and a tragedy. “It alerts you early enough that you get out before it gets so bad,” Powers said, per the same report.
That report also noted that the National Fire Protection Association has found house fires happen more often in winter than any other season, and that heating appliances rank as the second-leading cause of U.S. home fires and home-fire injuries, and the third-leading cause of home-fire deaths. A separate report from August 2026 covered three deaths.
Fire officials recommend running a home fire drill at least twice a year, the article noted, to keep an escape plan fresh for every member of a household.
Teaching Kids to React Before It’s Too Late
For families with young children, the U.S. Fire Administration recommends choosing a meeting place outside the home and making sure kids know what to do if a smoke alarm sounds and no adult is nearby. The agency advises helping children practice reaching that outside meeting spot and teaching them never to go back inside a building that is on fire.
It’s that kind of early, practiced awareness that Baumler now champions in her advocacy work with JFRD, turning her own childhood experience into lessons for a new generation of Jacksonville kids.
