SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif. — A Scotts Valley, California, family is crediting a jogger for saving their pets and home from a fire.
They were out of town when a man noticed something was wrong and acted quickly. It was all captured on the family's Ring doorbell camera.
"I saw him running back and forth," said homeowner Courtney Polito. "So I answered it and he said, 'Hello, do you see there's smoke coming out of the top of your house?'"
She heard the smoke alarms going off, and she gave the man the code to get inside and rescue their two dachshunds, a rabbit and a cat.
Polito said if the mystery jogger hadn't been there, they would have lost everything.
"The fire department said 10 more minutes and the house would have been gone," she said.
What amazed the family is the stranger didn't hesitate at all to go inside the burning house.
"It takes a special kind of person [to] go into a burning house to save animals," said Polito's husband, Tony.
Because of the jogger's actions, the fire was contained to the garage.
There is smoke damage throughout the house, damaged cabinets and destroyed Christmas presents. Their Chevy Blazer was damaged, too.
"This is the first for our agency where someone uses a Ring doorbell system to alert 911 and the homeowners," said Andrew LoFranco, Scotts Valley Battalion Chief.
Before the Polito family could thank the good Samaritan, he took off. The family asked that the jogger's face be blurred because they believe he may be a humble hero.
He was wearing a yellow T-shirt with a star in front and on the back, and a dark beanie with what looks like "Arizona" written on it. He also had an accent.
"I want to give him a hug," Courtney Polito said. "I'll bring him to lunch. I'll bring him dinner. I don't know ... I just want to thank him so much and let him know how thankful we are. My kids, my husband, we would be devastated if we lost our pets, let alone our home."