Neighbor saves sleeping homeowner from DeKalb County fire

DeKalb County firefighters are monitoring hot spots at the scene of an overnight house fire.

The blaze broke out around 1 a.m. Tuesday at a home on the 1400 block of Panola Road.

When crews got to the scene, they found the rear of the home covered in heavy flames. Firefighters quickly got to work putting out the blaze.

The man who lived in the home tells FOX 5 he was asleep when a neighbor started banging on his door.

He says the fire moved quickly, leaving him just seconds to escape.

"When I opened the door to try and go out of the room the fire was coming through, so we had to come through the window to get out," Homeowner Theophilus Gardner said.

Firefighters tell us everyone got out safely and the only injury was one firefighter's twisted ankle.

Arson investigators are on the scene working to determine how the blaze started.

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