Hero puts out house fire; saves the day

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) - A home daycare could've turned into an inferno if not for the quick actions of a neighborhood hero. The July 27 fire broke out on 17th Street in the east end of Newport News.

Neighbors describe Fritz Pongnon as an awesome, guardian angel and a hero.

At 9:20 Thursday morning, Pongnon and neighbor Leola Monroe were chatting when the heard an odd noise.

"I kept hearing pow, pow, pow. There was a loud noise and everything," said Monroe.

Pongnon ran next door to his front yard.

"I found that popping sound was a house on fire. That green house right there behind the trees," said Pongnon. "So once I got into the middle of the street here I could actually see where the fire was coming from."

Pongnon works for Cox Communications and drives a bucket truck, which he had at his home. He got the truck, a fire extinguisher and went to the house fire. 

Pongnon took the bucket up and put out the fire from the power line to the house. He did it so quickly the wood on the home wasn't even burned.

As he was telling WAVY.com his story , the woman whose home he saved came to the door.

"There you are. I have never officially thanked you for saving my home. Thank you so much, that was a miracle," said Diane Orie who was in the home daycare with five children. 

"I heard this loud boom in the house, and I went out. The house was on fire," added Orie.

When the Newport News Fire Department got to the house, the fire was out. WAVY.com asked Orie what the fire department had to say about her hero, Fritz Pergnon, "they told me he was was directly responsible for saving my house."

2-year-old Imani Ryan was one of the children in Orie's home during the fire.

Imani's mother, Erica Ryan, was thankful a good neighbor came along.

"I really think that was awesome. He was a guardian angel. He came and put out the fire. My daughter wasn't even aware of the fire," said Ryan.

Fire officials said the fire likely started from squirrels in the tree that chewed the power line. The sun's heat then got through to the electric line and likely started the fire.