PLAINVILLE -- Two people are safe, thanks largely in part to a neighbor who rushed into help after a fire broke out in a home on Diamond Avenue in Plainville early Monday morning.
"Thank god that I was awake at that time," says SGT. Kevin Bournival of the Connecticut National Guard, who lives next door to where the fire started.
Bournival says he was in the right place at the right time Monday morning.
“I went to go outside to go warm up my car to go to work that’s when I actually heard, it sounded like crackling of fire so I looked over and I saw it glowing from the front," says Bournival.
After seeing flames coming from the front of the home, this courageous neighbor quickly jumped into action.
"I started banging on the door and nobody answered the door, and then I went to the side of the house," says Bournival. "I yelled to the window, and I asked them does anyone need help, and then I heard a voice so I knew the people were inside."
Two women were inside of the home, they rushed to safety before calling 911.
"I believe they were sleeping when the fire started so they got up and grabbed what they could, and got out, but the fire had a good jump on them," says Chief of Plainville Fire Department, Kevin Toner.
But those two women, weren't the only ones inside of the home at the time of the fire.
"I guess they had one dog in a crate, and they had five cats," says Bournival. "We were able to get two of the cats the other ones I couldn’t see in there... but I am hoping that the fire department was able to get them.”
Animal Control was called in to help care for the several other pets that no longer have a home.
"Animal control is going to take the dogs to the local kennel and take care of them for the short-term," says Plainville Fire Marshal, Larry Sutherland. "We had about 4 or 5 cats in the home, 3 of them are deceased.”
The Red Cross was also called in to assist, the Fire Marshal says the home will be uninhabitable for quite some time.
Right now Sutherland said it appears that this fire may have started from an alternate heating system but it remains under investigation.