Lexington man finds neighbor’s home on fire: ‘I just kept screaming for him to come out.’

A neighbor helped save a man and his dog from their burning home Thursday night.

Brandon Newton said he had just finished dinner and stepped outside to smoke when he saw heavy smoke coming from the roof of a house across the street from where he lives on Wickland Drive, near Bryan Station Middle School. He said he knew a family with children lived there.

“The smoke alarms were going off,” he said. “I just went through the door.”

He said the smoke and flames were heavy, so he “put one foot in and started screaming.”

Newton said the man who lives there came to the top of the steps but didn’t immediately come out of the house.

“I grabbed his dog and pulled his dog out. He still wouldn’t come out,” Newton said. “I just kept screaming for him to come out.”

Newton said the rest of the family was gone at the time, and the man who lives there finally exited the house.

He later was taken to the hospital to be checked out.

The fire was reported at about 9 p.m.

Lexington Fire Department Maj. C.J. Haunz said a “small fire” did “extensive damage to the kitchen area” of the home, and the family would not be able to stay there on Thursday night.

Haunz said a fire investigator was on the way to the scene to help determine the cause.

This story was originally published November 2, 2017 at 10:39 PM with the headline "Lexington man finds neighbor’s home on fire: ‘I just kept screaming for him to come out.’."