GREENWOOD, Ind — Fire investigators are trying to figure out what caused a massive fire that did major damage to a Greenwood home.
But the teenager who was inside at the time is OK, thanks to some observant and quick-thinking neighbors.
"It's devastating. It's our home," said Alex Frazier as she looked at what's left. They'd just finished renovating. "And it's just gone," she said.
Cellphone video and pictures from neighbors show heavy smoke and flames consuming part of the house Tuesday afternoon and again hours later, when the fire reignited.
But six days later, Frazier still can't help but be grateful.
"It could have been so much worse," she said.
Her 16-year-old stepson was in his upstairs bedroom, she says, about to take a nap. He was home alone and unaware.
The fire was also on the upper level of the home, but down the hallway from her stepson's room. Thankfully, some neighbors happened to be walking by just in time, saw the smoke and called 911.
Neighbor Phil Walsh then headed straight for the front door.
"Somebody’s banging on the door and he's like, 'What is going on?'" Frazier recalled her stepson telling her.
Walsh can be seen and heard on the home's Ring doorbell camera telling the teen the house is on fire and that he needs to get out. Some neighbors call Walsh a hero. He disagrees.
"It just so happens God had us in the right place at the right time," Walsh said.
But firefighters say Walsh is a great example of what every neighbor should be.
"I think it’s a huge asset to have neighbors that are watching out for each other," said Lt. David Scholl with the White River Township Fire Department.
In this case, good timing and neighbors who always have their eyes and ears open may have helped avoid injuries and perhaps even saved a life.
"If it wasn't for Phil, he (Frazier's stepson) would be (jumping) out the window or who knows what would have happened," Frazier said. "Thank you so much to everybody."