NAPLES, Fla. (WSVN) — Residents in one Naples community had the scare of a lifetime when a fast-moving brush fire made its way into several backyards, putting them in danger, and an alert homeowner’s quick thinking may have made the difference.
Resident Greg Milewicz said he grew up outside of Detroit and has seen plenty of car fires, but he knew the blaze that sparked Wednesday afternoon was different.
“It moved so quickly, it sounded like that, the heat from it, from all the way on the other side of the street, you could feel the heat on your face,” he said.
Cellphone video provided by Milewicz captured the massive flames burning dangerously close to homes in the Wilshire Lakes neighborhood, located near Interstate 75, as he alerted neighbors about the fire.
“Holy [expletive], the heat. You guys gotta go, man, I called the fire department, and they should be here,” he is heard saying in the video.
Milewicz didn’t waste any time. He biked across the community and tried to help the most vulnerable.
“You know, it’s an elderly community, I mean, where we are, and I didn’t really see anybody outside; there were a few neighbors,” he said, “I know a lot of people are at home, they’re not working, so I just thought it was the right thing to do.”
“Hey, guys, you guys, you gotta get out of your house,” Milewicz is heard saying in the video.
“It was a matter of minutes, really, when you first saw flames coming kind of deep into the woods, and then it was pretty much on these people’s [backyards],” he said,
Spotting an elderly woman, Milewicz decided to help mop up hotspots.
“She was out by her pool trying to spray the fire with her garden hose through the pool screen, and the hose was kinked, and she wasn’t having any success, obviously,” he said.
Meanwhile, firefighters were setting up their own attack.
“I thought there is no way they’re going to contain this. ‘This is out of control, the wind is blowing real hard,'” said Milewicz.
But crews were able to get the upper hand on the flames.
Even with his helping hand, Milewicz said he still has others to thank, including officials who helped from above.
“From the guy who was flying the plane and spotting, and then the guy that was flying the helicopter, picking up buckets — that big bucket, whatever you call it — from the ponds. He must have dipped in there 50 times,” he said. “It was a really, really incredible sight to see.”
As of Thursday afternoon, the fire is 98% contained. There are no reports of any injuries.
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