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Randall Jeppesen reporting Firefighters say it was one of the strangest house fire calls they've ever received, and neighbors can't believe the homeowner is still alive.
Mellissa Neusch was shocked when she opened her front door to find her neighbor there. "He was crawling over here. He couldn't even stand up," she said.
She says his hands were covered in black soot. "[I asked,] ‘John, are you OK?' And he's like, ‘I can't breathe. I'm having a hard time breathing.' And I'm like, ‘OK, I'm calling 911,'" Neusch said.
Turned out the man's kitchen had caught fire and he attacked the flames with a garden hose. Neusch says he even told her he had passed out for a time because of all the smoke.
When firefighters arrived, the flames were out. Fire investigators are calling accident. They don't have an exact cause, but Neusch says the man told her he had left a candle lit in the kitchen.
E-mail: rjeppesen@ksl.com
