85-Year-Old Neighbor, Woman Out on Morning Stroll Save Family From House Fire

Police in New Jersey are crediting an 85-year-old man, Santo Livio, and an unidentified woman for saving a sleeping family from a house fire. According to ABC News, the two passersby, out on their morning walk, alerted sleeping family members that their house was on fire on Wednesday. 

The incident occurred in South Brunswick Township, police said. The family included a father and four children. 

"I credit Mr. Livio, along with the unidentified woman, and their quick thinking and heroic actions, with saving the family," South Brunswick Township Police Chief Raymond Hayducka said in a statement. 

According to police officials, Livio, who lives down the block, said he spotted the fire around 5:30 a.m. when he "noticed puffs of smoke that looked like fog" over the corner of his neighbor's garage. Upon going outside to check further, he saw a woman who regularly walks in the neighborhood.

"I yell to her, I said, 'Is that a fire, you think, that smoke is?' And she says yes," Livio told ABC News.

According to Livio, the woman then ran up the driveway and started banging on the front door, while Livio started banging on a window. He added that after knocking on the window for a few minutes he ran home to call 911 while the woman continued knocking on the door.

"When I got back to my door, I saw the people that lived in the house come out and she told them their house was on fire. And the man said, 'What fire?' And she says, 'Look,'" Livio said. "He looked up and he said, 'Oh my God.’"

As a result of their noise the family was able to wake up and evacuate the house uninjured. “The family said that they were sleeping and had no idea that the house was on fire,” before Livio and the woman began making a scene outside, police said.

According to ABC News, three fire departments responded to the scene and were able to extinguish the fire. The cause still remains under investigation.

South Brunswick Fire Chief Chris Perez told ABC's New York station that while there were smoke detectors in the home, they appeared to be broken.

The father told WABC his family is safe and that they are grateful to first responders, Livio and the woman.

Despite his actions being considered ‘heroic’ Livio told ABC News he wouldn’t call himself a hero but instead a “good neighbor.”

"I hope that what I did for somebody they would do the same for me," he said.