‘It’s something that saved this gentleman’s life’: Good Samaritan helps rescue man from burning house

WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — A man is lucky to be alive after he was rescued from a burning home in Franklin on Thursday afternoon.

Flames were seen shooting from the roof of a two-story house at around 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, but the homeowner got out safe thanks to a nearby house painter’s quick actions.

“I didn’t even think about it,” painter Joshua Schaffer told News 2. “I just ran towards it because I would want somebody to run towards me if I was in a fire.”

Schaffer said that he could see the homeowner inside.

“I saw him coming down the stairwell. He had his head kind of tilted like he didn’t know where he was or he had just woke up,” Schaffer said.

Schaffer said that with the help of neighbors, they were able to bust through the door and pull the man outside.

“I was actually really happy to see how many people were concerned about their neighbor,” Schaffer said.

“I wasn’t in for ten seconds because it was so hot,” Schaffer added. “I immediately had to run back out because it was like trying to catch a breath of fresh air while you’re underwater.”

Firefighters were already en route.

“We’ll get here with fire crews as fast as we can, but in this case, clearly it’s something that saved this gentleman’s life,” Williamson County Fire Rescue District Chief Barry Burris told News 2.

Investigators said that the fire appeared to start in the back of the house. They think it’s accidental.

“There was a fairly aggressive fire attack over the course of an hour and a half,” Burris said. “It took a good while to get the flames under control.”

The homeowner’s wife wasn’t home when the fire started, however, their beloved golden retriever is still missing.

In this particular case, firefighters aren’t sure if the family had working smoke detectors. Officials said that October is Fire Prevention Month, so they recommend that everyone check the batteries in their smoke detectors.

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