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85-Year-Old Man Saves Sleeping New Jersey Family From House Fire

[Screenshot/YouTube/Eyewitness News ABC 7 NY]

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A New Jersey family was saved from an early morning house fire thanks to the efforts of an 85-year-old neighbor.

At approximately 5:30 a.m. May 31, Santo Livio noticed a “puff of smoke” emanating from the corner of his neighbor’s garage. Stepping outside his own home to investigate the matter further, Livio consulted with a woman who regularly walks the neighborhood and was passing by.

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

The two neighbors then sprang into action. While the woman went to the front door of the home, Livio started banging on windows before returning to his home to call 911, the outlet stated. By the time the police and fire officials arrived, the smoke had become a full-on blaze, he told ABC 7 News.


The family, which had been asleep, eventually woke up to the efforts of Livio and the passing woman, who alerted them to the presence of the fire. The father and his four children escaped the blaze with no injuries. The mother, a nurse, was working at the time of the blaze. (RELATED: REPORT: Pitbull Dies While Saving 15-Year-Old Girl’s Life In Huge House Fire)

“I credit Mr. Livio, along with the unidentified woman, and their quick thinking and heroic actions, with saving the family,” Chief Raymond J. Hayducka told ABC 7 News.

Livio dismissed any praise lauding him as a hero, preferring instead to be thought of simply as a “good neighbor.”

“I hope that what I did for somebody they would do the same for me,” he told ABC News.

Officials are still investigating the cause of the fire, the outlet stated.