PALM BAY, Fla. -- A father's love for his family helped him break through heavy smoke, flames and thick glass. He got his wife and 9-year-old child out of their burning home, along Rebus Avenue in Palm Bay on Saturday.

While the family was asleep at night, the fire started in the kitchen and quickly filled the home with smoke. The family woke up because of the smoke detector.

Nine year-old CJ Greene is still scared to go to sleep. He woke up to find his house in flames and started screaming.

"I couldn't see, I couldn't breathe. I thought I was going to die," the boy said.

The smoke was so thick and flames were so hot, there was no way they could get to their son's bedroom. That's when Robert Greene took matters into his own hands to rescue his son.

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"It's one of those things you don't think about, you just do," Greene said.

He broke the window and pushed his wife out. He jumped out after her and ran to his son's bedroom where with his bare hands broke through the hurricane glass.

"He said jump in my arms and I jumped in his arms. I was crying and he told me to breath and I breathed. He then brought me out to the road where my mom was," CJ Greene said.

The boy's father has more than 200 stitches and didn't realize the glass had nearly severed off several of his fingers.

"I wasn't thinking about scratching myself up, I was thinking about, just get my family out of the burning house," said Greene.

Now his family credits him with their lives and calls him their hero.

"That's what they say. I'm a hero just by the grace of God. That's what any man is supposed to do, save your family," said Greene.

Firefighters said the fire may have started in a battery charger for a drill the family was using. But, the family says they've used that charger for two years and never have had problem. They just moved into the home two weeks ago.