JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Jacksonville man saved his disabled neighbor from a house fire in an Arlington neighborhood Friday.
The house, now burned and covered in ashes, is located on Brandemere Road and his home to a disabled woman. Lester Driggers lives just across the street from the woman and saw her home engulfed in flames Friday morning.
Popping sounds and a loud "boom" is what made Lester and his girlfriend, Kayla McNeil look around outside.
"As soon as I stuck my head out, it was full on fire," Lester said.
That's when, still barefoot and shirtless, he did the unthinkable.
"I ran over there and got that door open, and she was on the couch in the living room," he said. "She was disabled and on oxygen. I pretty much had to run in there just grab her, lift her up and pull her through the door to get her out of that smoke and that fire."
Once Lester guided the woman out of her home, he and his girlfriend brought her into theirs.
"We had her here before the ambulance came, so she was completely holding on to me she didn’t want to let go of me," Lester's girlfriend, Kayla, said. "She was super grateful for Lester and us to do what we could."
Lester doesn't see his selfless actions as heroic, but just the right thing to do.
"I think adrenaline took over and, like I said, I thought of it kind of like my grandparent or something, like a loved one of mine and would hope somebody would do the same for me. Just want to say I’m glad she’s here with us today," he said.
One of the woman's dogs did not survive the fire.