(ABC 6 News) — A 17-year-old from Rockford, Iowa, is being honored by the Nora Springs Fire Department after he saved a family from a burning trailer.

Back on March 11, Jaxson Ott was driving by when he noticed the fire, and with seconds to react, he decided to help the two people and their newborn baby escape the dangerous situation.

Related: Hometown Hero: Teen saves family from burning trailer 

For his heroic efforts, Ott was presented with a Certificate of Valor Award.

“Anytime I see a fire, especially with a house, my first instinct is make sure anybody’s out. Even if there wasn’t anybody in there, I still would have been happy to get in there, and I’d seen a vehicle and figured I’d try and do something, which I’m glad I did because nobody else stopped,” Ott said.

The fire department says Ott’s actions allowed them to focus on extinguishing the flames.

“What Jaxson did, he’d seen that the trailer house was on fire, and he could have just kept driving or walking, whatever. He stopped and tried to help the best that he could. Notified the people that were inside the house and helped get them to safety,” said Fire Chief Mike Miller.

The cause of the fire was determined to be an electrical short in the wall, and the house was deemed a total loss.