ST. MATTHEWS, Ky. --
Paper carrier Chris Wooldridge was called a "guardian angel" after he rescued two people from their burning home on Monday.
"I saw clouds of white smoke," he said. "At first I thought the church was on fire."
Wooldridge said he could see that smoke was coming from a home in the 700 block of Indian Ridge Road in the Windy Hills subdivision. So, as he'd played out in his mind many times before, he called 911 and sprang into action.
"I banged on the front door, rang the doorbell, got no response," he said. "I ran to the back of the house. The smoke was so thick I couldn't get to the back door."
Inside, homeowner John Jones and his wife, Virginia, had been fast asleep.
"All of a sudden, bang, bang, bang on my front door," he said. "When I opened the door, he grabbed me." Chris Wooldridge Wooldridge said he told Jones his house was on fire and that he needed to get out immediately.
Then, as Jones called for his wife, Wooldridge said he ran back into the smoke-filled home to find her.
"I just put the comforter around her and grabbed her like a football stance and got her out to the porch," he said.
St. Matthews Fire Chief Bill Seng said the fire was pretty intense when firefighters arrived and that the homeowners didn't have any working smoke detectors.
"It probably took us about 30 minutes to get it under control," he said. "Minutes count in a house fire and the results might have been drastically different if he hadn't stopped by." John Jones Wooldridge scoffed at the idea of being called a "hero."
"To me, the heroes are the people who do it every day when they go to work," he said. "They have a chance of putting their life on the line."
He said he would do it all over again if he encountered a similar situation.
"Anybody needing help, I'd give them a helping hand," he said.
John Jones said he's thankful that Wooldridge stressed the urgency of the situation to him.
"That air was toxic and I wasn't feeling that right away," he said. "I wasn't in a big hurry, but he caused me to be in a big hurry."
Jones said Wooldridge was their "guardian angel."
"I told him: 'If you weren't a hero before, you are now as far as I'm concerned.' Because he is," said Jones.
Fire officials said a faulty light in the couple's kitchen likely sparked the blaze.
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