A home in Ybor City was heavily damaged during a fire early Sunday morning.
- Ybor City home heavily damaged in fire
- Neighbors alerted to potential danger by heroic stranger
Tampa Fire Crews were called out to the home on North 18th Street near Columbus Drive.
Crews said heavy smoke and fire engulfed the 2-story home.
Luckily, no one was in the home when it caught fire around 3:30 a.m. Sunday.
Neighbors are thankful their homes are still intact thanks to one heroic stranger.
Neighbors said they didn’t realize what was going on till there was a knock on their door.
“I just heard a loud boom about 3:30 in the morning. It woke me up and then there was a guy running around the neighborhood, clearing houses. We don’t know who he is. Whoever you are out there, thank you. We appreciate it,” said neighbor Corey Gilmore.
The person knocking on everyone’s door was Michael Bachnann.
“It was 3:30 in the morning, it sounded like someone hit a house. This big boom and I got suspicious and looked over the fence and I just saw a flame spewing out and that was it, it was on,” said Bachnann.
After calling 911, Bachnann went door to door getting all the neighbors out.
“I guess it was the Boy Scout in me, save lives first. So that’s what I went for,” he said.
While there was no saving the home, neighbors said he could have potentially save a life.
Investigators are still working to determine the cause of the fire.