Heroine Alexandra Bratanova was left alone in the house in the village of Mamyak with her cousins after her mother and elder sister went to work the night shift. At midnight, she smelled smoke and saw that the curtains in the kitchen were ablaze.
"Understanding that she was unable to cope with the blaze on her own, she dressed the children, and took them out of the burning house," the source said.
According to preliminary information, the fire could have been caused by the improper handling of electronic devices or a short circuit.
Last year, rescuers in the southwestern Urals Republic of Bashkiria awarded medals to two teenagers. One of them rescued an elderly woman from a fire and the other two children from another blaze.
More than 1,000 people have died in fires so far this year in Russia. In 2007, 16,000 perished in blazes in the country.
