Interview With Woodbridge Man Who Saved Neighbor From Fire

ISELIN, NJ - John Leo often saw his neighbors out walking on the street. But he didn't really know them. And he certainly never thought one day he'd save one of their lives.

But that's exactly what happened last Thursday night. Leo, 50, and his wife were pulling into their driveway on Copper Avenue in Iselin a little after midnight. They had been at a friend's house for dinner. It was late, and they were tired.

That's when his wife said she saw smoke coming out of a home seven or eight houses down.

Leo, who owns a roofing company, drove his work truck down the block. He was unprepared for what he saw.

"This was nowhere near a small fire. The entire house was in flames. The whole front door had fire coming out of it. There was no way to get in or out of that house," he told Patch. "There were two elderly people standing on the front yard. We always see them going for walks on the sidewalk. The woman was crying, 'My son, my son is in the house!'"

"My stomach turned," he said. "I thought to myself, 'Someone is in that burning house.'" Sure enough, he heard someone calling "Help, help, help!" from a second-floor window.

There were no firefighters in sight. Leo and his wife were the first to arrive at the scene. She called 911 and Leo said he immediately ran to his work truck and pulled out his roofing ladder.

"I went onto the side driveway and put it up to the second-floor window. It was about 24 feet up," he said. "There was actually a lot of ice and snow and God help me, it did not slip." Actually, the ladder did slip backwards at first, and bumped Leo in the head.

But he got it into position and the man on the second floor, the elderly couple's son, was able to climb down. He was in his 60s, Leo estimated.

"The guy hugged me, he was crying. I told him 'God saved you, not me.' I was just in the right place at the right time. If he was in there five more minutes he would have died of smoke inhalation."

The man's parents thanked him and kissed him, Leo said. All three were taken to JFK Medical Center for further evaluation, Woodbridge police confirmed to Patch. When volunteer crews from Iselin Fire District #9 got there, the home was fully engulfed in flames. Pictured above, the home is currently unlivable. The cause of the fire remains under investigation, Capt. Roy Hoppock of the Woodbridge PD said.

"The Woodbridge chief of police called me and thanked me for being a Good Samaritan," Leo said. "I told him it was just a reaction."

And perhaps one day, when they go back in to salvage whatever they can, this father and grandfather and five-year resident of Woodbridge Township will go over and say hello to his neighbors again.

"I couldn't believe it. We saw them all the time walking to the candy store down the block," he said. "You just never think something like this will happen."

Original Patch story: Neighbor Saves Man Trapped in Woodbridge Fire Friday