HOPEWELL, Va. -- Cristina Alvarez kept cool and acted fast to help her neighbor escape his burning Hopewell home on Monday.
When Alvarez went outside at about 11:40 a.m., she saw neighbor Mike Moran stuck on the roof of his burning South 4th Street home.
He said he had been working inside when the fire started.
"When I smelled the smoke, I started to go downstairs," he said. "When the smoke was coming up the stairs, I wasn't going to go down."
He decided to climb out an upstairs window.
"When I opened my door, he was on the roof," Alvarez said. "I said, 'oh my God, he needs help. Wait a minute, let me grab my phone.' And I get inside my house and I grab my phone and I call immediately to 9-1-1."
While on the phone with 9-1-1, Alvarez grabbed a ladder off her porch in an effort to get her neighbor down.
"I was yelling for help, cause I'm old and fat and didn't want to jump off," Moran said. "It was very brave."
Alvarez said it was just what a neighbor is supposed to do.
After he was checked out by EMS, Moran walked over to embrace the neighbor who helped save him.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
