Neighbour opens her front door to find a 5-year-old alone holding his baby sister.

“My mum died in the shower. Can you take care of us?”

The words of five-year-old Sal Cicalese, clutching his baby sister, as he stood upon his neighbour’s doorstep.

He’d just watched his mum, Kaitlyn, have a seizure in the shower before blacking out. He thought she had died and knew he needed to find help.

He wrapped his baby sister in a blanket to keep her warm.

He grabbed a stool and put it against the wall of the garage so he could reach the remote control that would open the door.

He crossed the street and knocked on Jessica Penoyer’s door.

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“He’s standing there and he’s holding something and I thought it was a doll,” Penoyer told ABC 15 Arizona.

At first, Penoyer thought Sal’s dog had died. When she realised he was talking about his mum, she quickly called emergency services.

Fire crews arrived and found Sal’s mum still under the running water. Thankfully, she was able to be revived.

“Honestly, he saved my life because I was under the faucet and if he wouldn’t have gotten help, I would’ve drowned,” Kaitlyn told ABC 15 afterwards.

She said the incident has not been easy on Sal.

"He asks me now a billion times if I'm okay," Kaitlyn said. "He asks me if I'm going to have another seizure. He asks me 'are you going to die today' and I assure him 'no I'm not going to die today'."

Now, Sal has been declared an "honorary fire fighter". He was presented with an award from the local fire services. He got to wear a fire fighter's hat and ride in the fire truck. What a little hero.