“I was on my phone and I didn’t notice the fire at first," the son, Jovani, said
Credit: KTVN /Youtube
NEED TO KNOW
- Jovani Moss, 15, noticed a fire while waiting for his school bus and alerted his mother for help
- Jovani’s mother, Natechia, kicked the neighbor’s door to rescue a woman who was still inside the house
- The neighbor re-entered the burning house for her cat and jewelry before firefighters arrived to extinguish the blaze
A teenage boy and his mother managed to save a sleeping woman from a fire, thanks to his quick reaction.
Jovani Moss was waiting for the school bus on Tuesday, March 31, near his home on Leighton Court in Melville, Long Island, N.Y.
“I was on my phone and I didn’t notice the fire at first," Jovani, 15, told NBC 4 New York. “But I heard the crackling of the fire and I turned to look and called my mom."
"He said, 'Mom, the house across the street is on fire. What should I do? Should I go over there or should I just call 911?' " his mother, Natechia, added to CBS News New York.
Natechia told Jovani to call 911. Meanwhile, she ran outside in her pajamas to the neighbor's house. While she rang the doorbell, nobody answered.
“I started to kick the door," she recalled to NBC 4. "And I kept kicking the door. Finally, I got it ajar a little bit, and all of a sudden I saw her standing there and I grabbed her and said, 'Your house is on fire!' "
Although Natechia tried to leave with the neighbor, the woman "turned back" inside to get her cat and some jewelry.
The neighbor eventually came back out of the fire, and 50 firefighters from the Melville Fire Department showed up.
Jovani has since been hailed a hero for his swift reaction. "A lot of people calling me a hero. I was like, 'I'm not really a hero. I'm just being a good neighbor,' " he told CBS News, crediting his "brave" mom for also helping and teaching him to study surroundings.
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"Take out the ear pods. Keep your phone in your pocket until you get on that bus," Natechia said about her advice for her son. "Always be aware."
"We are thankful no one was hurt and that Jovani did the right thing and helped his neighbor. The world needs more Jovanis," Melville Fire Chief Donald Barclay shared in a statement.
"We also appreciate the work our firefighters did — the firefighters on scene were mostly volunteer firefighters," the statement continued. "The story speaks greatly towards the idea of helping your neighbor in multiple ways."
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