Hero off-duty firefighter runs into burning homes while out with family

LOWER MILFORD TWP., Pa. (WPVI) -- A volunteer firefighter is being called a hero after running into several burning homes to save the people and pets inside.

"I couldn't breathe," said Mike Falcaro. "It was just instinct because I knew no one was there."

It happened Sunday morning around 11:30 a.m. on Old Bethlehem Pike in Milford Township. Falcaro and his family were running errands when the blaze broke out.

"Propane tanks are going off like crazy, and that scared me," he said. "If I would've heard a siren or anything of the sort, there's no way I would've gone in."

"He got out of the car, and he's like, 'Call 911,' and off he ran," recalled his wife, Barbara. "I watch him kick in the first door, and I watch him go like this knowing flames are going to go out after him."

As a volunteer firefighter, Falcaro knew it might take crews a while to respond, and he knew lives were at stake.

"It never happens like that," he said. "I go to the station. I get my gear on, I have a 911 app."

Falcaro was back and forth between the two trailers as the fire was burning. Once he made sure the residents made it out safely, he heard neighbors screaming about a dog one of the residences.

"I dropped to my belly and I went in and I just scurried around, desperate to feel anything furry or hairy, cause it's somebody's baby," he said.

He made it out, and more fire trucks came screaming to the scene. The dog was rescued, too. All the while, Falcaro's whole world watched from across the street. His kids were in the car, and they saw their dad become a hero.

"Having gone through it, having the kind of concerns about looking death in the eye and all that, he would do it again," his wife said.

"I don't ever want to stop being good for my kids. So them to see me and be proud of me, it means a lot to me," said Falcaro.