Jun 12, 2009 5:29 pm US/Eastern
Samaritan Saves Wheelchair-Bound Man From Fire
John Rovnanik Says He Often Wondered If He Could Be A Hero In A Serious Situation; N.J. Family: No Doubt, He Is One
PARSIPPANY, N.J. (CBS) ―
A Parsippany family's home was devastated by a fast-moving fire, but they're grateful a hero neighbor rushed into the burning house.
That neighbor pulled a paralyzed man in a wheelchair through choking smoke and to safety.
How painful it was for Eun Choi and her two children as they inspected the charred remains of their home, but she is thankful her husband, who was in a wheelchair, was safely rescued by this neighbor.
"It's something I would do again and I'm sure anyone on the block would have done exactly the same," Good Samaritan John Rovnanik said.
The house was severely damaged by an electrical fire around midnight Thursday. Choi was inside with her 62-year-old husband, a stroke victim, when she discovered the fire and ran across the street for help.
"Please call 9-1-1. Our house, fire," Choi remembered saying.
"That's all she said, call 9-1-1, then she ran back," Rovnanik said.
As the woman ran back to her home, Rovnanik's parents called 9-1-1. When John got into the house, it was filled with smoke.
"There was smoke. There was like gray smoke engulfed the living room and she said. 'We got to get him out; he's in a wheelchair. We got to get him out,'" Rovnanik said.
The young man said he helped maneuver the wheelchair so he could get it out the door, and then helped the wife bring the wheelchair down the steps.
Rovnanik said within 10 minutes the house was engulfed in flames.
"He saved life. He saved my husband's life. Without, we would be big trouble," Choi said.
The woman's son, who wasn't at home at the time, praised the neighbor.
"If he wasn't here, who knows what would have happened to my dad?" Phil Choi said.
The young man, who said he's often wondered if he would rise to such a challenge, is being called a hero.
"I don't know about hero. I didn't think. I just did it," Rovnanik said.
He's just the kind of guy you hope is around in an emergency.
An 85-year-old woman was able to escape through the smoke all by herself.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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