PEMBROKE — A brand new house stands where Dawn Booker's old house did in March of last year, before it burned to the ground.

When the fire started, Booker and her mother, Sandra Downing, were on the second floor. Booker's two children, Samuel, 11, and Grace, 7 had escaped the burning building from the front door, but because the staircase was in flames, the two women had to find another way.

The window was the only option. Booker assisted Downing out; the older woman landed on a woodpile and escaped with nothing more than bad bruises. Booker broke her foot when she jumped.

Because her quick thinking under pressure helped her family escape a potentially deadly situation, Booker will receive a New Hampshire Union Leader Hero Award.

“I don't see myself as a hero,” Booker said Tuesday. “I see it as we were getting out. We were going to survive this thing.”

Fire Chief Harold Paulsen said Booker and Downing made the right decision.

“You use whatever method you can with what you're confronted with,” Paulsen said. “She did the appropriate thing and went out the window.”

The Bookers have been in their new house since November. Booker said the community not only rallied around the family to help replace essential items that burned in the fire, but students at Three Rivers School held a dance and donated all the proceeds to the family. Booker said she wanted to thank the town, so she spray-painted the remains of the old house with a message.

“Thank you Pembroke,” it read. “We love you.”

“I don't ever want to move out of Pembroke,” Booker said. “The people here are amazing.”

Booker said her mother has taken some time to travel around the country and visit with family, but will be returning home to Pembroke in June.

She has made sure the new house is easily escapable in the event of an emergency, though Booker said she is still jumpy at the sound of a fire alarm.

The ordeal taught her the importance of family, she said.

“Little things don't matter and big things don't matter,” Booker said. “Family matters.”