The two pulled the elderly man, they call "Pops," from his burning home on the 200 block of Pearl Street in Norristown, not far from a firehouse.
The neighbor happened to be on his porch when he smelled something peculiar. At first, he thought something was wrong with his wife's car, but he soon noticed flames coming from the man's home across the street. She called 911 as her husband rushed across the street to help.
The elderly man's family had already managed to get out of the home safely.
The neighbor, identifed as Daahoud Asante, heard the man screaming for help from his second floor bedroom, where he had been sleeping when the fire started. Asante and the victim's son raced toward the home.
They opened the door and encountered smoke pouring down the stairway. Asante tells Action News that's when they made the decision to rush up the smoke-filled stairway. They freed the man from the bedroom.
"We grabbed him. I pulled him down the steps. After that, everything was on fire," Asante said.
"It was horrible. It was horrible. I watched the roof catch on fire. In a matter of three minutes, the whole house was engulfed in flames," Asante's wife, Danielle, said.
"Pops" was rushed to Temple Hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation. His condition has not been released.
Asante does not want to be called a hero. He said he just did what he hopes any person would do when they see someone in need of help.
