Neighbors Spring Into Action To Save Family From Burning Home In Lehigh County
HEIDELBERG TOWNSHIP, Pa. (CBS) -- Neighbors jumped into action to save a family from a burning home in Lehigh County. It was a close call.
You can call the father and son heroes. They say their teamwork prevented a tragedy.
A baby, two adults and two pets were inside the home.
The fire started on Reservoir Road in Heidelberg Township, Lehigh County just before 2:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Neighbor Mark Steidinger heard yelling and screaming. He ran outside to see the house next door on fire and called 911.
The dispatcher asked if he could get a ladder to the second-floor window to help rescue the family.
He yelled over to his son, who brought the ladder and helped get everyone out.
"I don't have the words for it. God was with them. Saved that baby and that young lady," Mark Steidinger said.
"It was fight or flight. I just, I had to try. I couldn't live with myself if I didn't try to save them," Benjamin Steidinger said.
Everyone got out except for the family cat.
Authorities say one person was transported to Lehigh Valley Hospital Cedar Crest for smoke inhalation.
It took firefighters about an hour to get the fire under control.
The cause of the blaze remains under investigation but authorities say it appears to be accidental.
