HICKORY, N.C. — A Catawba County man is safe after a couple of good Samaritans made sure he escaped a fire early Monday morning.
A couple happened to be driving by when they saw the flames coming out of the house in southeast Hickory.
More than a dozen firefighters were at the home along 15th Street Southeast Monday morning. Flames completely destroyed one out of three apartments in the building, leaving significant damage around the rear of the home.
Chung told Channel 9′s Dave Faherty he was sleeping in after being up late. He said he awoke to a couple banging on his door.
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Renters told Channel 9 that the apartment upstairs was being renovated, so no one was living there. But there were two units downstairs that were damaged. It was there where Alan Chung says he was asleep.
“I was sleeping in the house and somebody came by and knocked on my door. And I thought someone had come by and was trying to rob me or something and they saved my life,” he said. “Thank you so much.”
He says he got out only with what he was wearing.
Firefighters say when they arrived, flames were coming out of the back of the home. Chung says when it happened, he had no idea the home was ablaze.
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Faherty asked Chung if he ever heard smoke detectors going off inside the home and he said he didn’t.
Chung added the people who saved him only left after making sure he was safely out of the home.
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