(13 WHOtv.com) – An off-duty Petersburg firefighter jumped into action Friday night after a fire broke out at the home of his elderly neighbor along South Crater Road in Prince George County.
Chris Lawrence said he had checked on his next-door neighbor earlier in the night.
“I helped him get in the bed and get him in the house,” Lawrence told WTVR. “I told him I’d come back around… and check on him to make sure he was still sleep or still in bed.”
But Lawrence said when he came outside 30 minutes later, he saw something concerning.
“I took a few steps towards the house and that’s when I noticed the plastic blinds had fallen inside the kitchen — and the kitchen was on fire at that point,” Lawrence said.
Lawrence rushed into the home – without any fire gear – to rescue his neighbor, who he said is in his 90s.
“It never crossed my mind not to go in, maybe it should of, but it didn’t. I knew he was in there,” he said. “I do remember it was a ton of smoke, it was hot, but we were down as low as I could go, we came down the porch and went to the front yard.”
