Hero neighbor saves mom, kids from burning home
A Baltimore man risked his life this week to rescue his neighbors -- a mother and her two kids -- after their home caught fire, an incident that was caught on camera.
Steven Angelini told ABC Baltimore station WMAR he was asleep in his home when he awoke to popping sounds outside his house. He said he looked at his Ring video doorbell camera and saw the home across the street in flames, smoke billowing from the windows.
Angelini quickly rushed out of his home to make sure everyone was safe. In the Ring doorbell footage, he can be seen running down his front steps, yelling to his neighbors, "Is anybody there?"
"I heard like horror, horror screams -- it was haunting, it was scary, and I knew it wasn't good," he recalled.
Angelini said he tried to grab a ladder to rescue the mother and kids, but was unable to because he had previously injured his arm. Instead, he instructed the mother to drop her children down to him out of a window, recalling that they had "maybe a minute, seconds left to live."
The first child was able to jump down into his arms, followed shortly by the other. According to WMAR, once they were both safe, several other neighbors were able to grab a ladder and place it against the home for the mother to escape the blaze.
The Baltimore County Fire Department arrived on the scene a short while later to put out the fire, WMAR reported.
Baltimore County Fire Chief Joseph Dixon later thanked Angelini and the neighborhood residents for their "courage and selflessness" and said in a statement on Facebook that the incident was "a powerful reminder of the strength of our communities."
Angelini said he simply did what needed to be done.
"I don't mind putting my life on the line for others," he told WMAR. "I think God put me here and puts me in situations to help other people. I did what anyone else would do for my family."
The rescued mother and her children were subsequently treated for minor injuries, according to WMAR, and the cause of the fire is still under investigation.
The neighborhood has since started a collection for clothes for the family.
