A neighbor's quick thinking saved a SW Miami-Dade family from a desperate situation when their home became engulfed in flames on New Year's Day. Jacek Bogdanienko and his wife, having just returned from a New Year's Eve celebration, spotted the fire at a neighboring house around 2 a.m., as reported by CBS News Miami. "It was not a grill fire, but a really high fire, the roof was on fire. It was the wall on fire," Bogdanienko said, describing the scene that pushed them into action.
While the fire raged, Bogdanienko's wife knocked persistently at the door to warn the residents, including Stacy Ellis who was practically lulled to sleep by a television. "Well, we were all in bed and I was kind of in and out of sleep. I was watching television and someone knocked on the door. I knew it wasn't a normal knock so I ran to the door and opened it and they showed us where the house was on fire, on the north end of the house. That's basically it, they saved our lives, and I thank God they were passing by," Ellis told CBS News Miami. The family and their dogs escaped unharmed thanks to Bogdanienko's intervention.
The fire department, summoned by Bogdanienko's 911 call, arrived at the scene swiftly and managed to extinguish the flames. The home, located on the 4500 block of SW 128th Place, suffered severe damage and has been deemed unlivable, according to WSVN. Though the fire's cause is still under investigation, the neighbors' actions are clear—they saved lives.
Bogdanienko, a resident down the street, refuses to consider themselves heroes. "It was what every neighbor needs to do in this situation to another neighbor," he said in a WSVN interview. Despite the harrowing events and massive loss, Ellis and his family remain grateful to the neighbors that knocked on their door. "They saved our lives and I thank God they were walking by, or passing by," Ellis recounted, emphasizing the serendipity of their lifesaving presence.
