'This could of been a lot worse': off duty firefighter saves the day

SHAWNEE COUNTY (KSNT) - An off-duty fire fighter saved the day for one homeowner west of Topeka.

What started out as a day involving garden work quickly turned into a call to action for firefighter Jeremy Steimel. That's because he noticed a fire coming from his neighbors house.

"For some reason looked over and saw smoke and thought 'man, that don't look right,'" Steimel said. "Kind of all my last years of being on fire department kind of just kicked in, I went to work."

Work is exactly where John Cantrell was at. He then got a call from his wife saying he needed to come home. Thankfully, due to swift actions of his neighbor, Cantrell came home to his house intact instead of in flames.

"This could of been a lot worse, but because of good neighbors we have a little bit of damage instead of a lot of bit of damage," Cantrell said.

"Pulled off siding, got deeper into it, moved everything away so nothing caught on fire or kept burning or smoldering," Steimel said. "After that it was out and the fire department showed up and here we are."

For more local news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here.