Two residents of a massive house fire in a New Jersey community are alive thanks to their neighbors who pulled them to safety, the West Deptford Police Department announced.
“That whole front of the house, it was just a ball of flames,” said Jim Miller, who jumped out of bed and ran across the street, told CBS Philadelphia.
The fire happened just before 6 a.m. on Saturday at a home in West Deptford Township.
Fire officials said the house was fully engulfed in flames upon arrival and were notified that the residents of the home, a husband and wife, had been pulled out of the home by neighbors.
“We started banging on the basement windows, and we broke it out and all of a sudden, we heard a woman’s voice, ‘We’re here, we’re here.’ I’m going where, where are you?” Miller shared with CBS Philadelphia.
Miller was not the only neighbor to jump in and help.
He told CBS Philadelphia that another neighbor joined in as they pushed their way through bushes to get to the back of the house.
CBS Philadelphia reported another neighbor, Tom Carey, woke up to his dog barking, and his wife could see the glow from their window.
Carey rushed outside, jumped over a small fence, and started screaming for his next-door neighbors to get out, while his wife, Rachel, ran down the street trying to alert other neighbors.
“I went to the back door and just started banging on the door, banging on the windows, literally anything to make noise,” Carey told CBS Philadelphia.
“They’re like family, like they’re so nice, and they welcomed us with open arms as soon as we moved in,” Rachel Carey added.
Investigators told CBS Philadelphia that it took firefighters more than an hour and a half to get the fire under control and that the house is likely a complete loss.
The West Deptford Fire Chief told CBS Philadelphia that the neighbors are true heroes and said this may have ended differently had they not jumped in to help.
“That’s what neighbors do, that’s what we do,” Miller said. “I’m just glad I was there, and I’d do it again.”
First responders took the couple to a local hospital for treatment.
Their condition is unknown at this time and the cause of the fire remains under investigation.
The Woodbury Fire Department and West Deptford Fire Chief were not immediately available to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
