WASHOUGAL, Wash. — A Washougal man said he saved his next-door neighbor from a house fire early Friday morning.
Matt Sullivan said he's lived next to the neighbor on 38th Court for about two decades. Shortly after 4 a.m. Friday, Sullivan said his wife woke him to say the house next door was on fire.
Sullivan raced outside and broke a window of his neighbor's house, then he yelled inside to see if he could wake the man up. He said he heard his neighbor yelling that he was trapped in the garage.
The fire had knocked the electricity out in the home, Sullivan said. He tried the keypad on the garage door, but it wouldn't open. Meanwhile, the fire was starting to engulf the house.
"It was intense. Embers were coming down pretty good. You could feel the heat. It was surprising how fast the fire spread," Sullivan said. "It was scary. I was calling and yelling for help. I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to get him out. I said I wasn't leaving until I got him out."
Sullivan said he then grabbed the bottom of the garage door and pulled until it bent enough so his neighbor could crawl out from underneath.
His neighbor had burns on his hands and his face, Sullivan said, and he was covered in soot. He was taken to a burn center for treatment.
Crews were able to knock down the fire.
People living nearby were forced to evacuate as a precaution.