Long Island teen, mom credited with saving neighbor from house fire

A Long Island high schooler and his mom are being credited with saving a neighbor from a house fire.

Ninth grader Jovani Moss was in the right place at the right time early Tuesday morning as he was waiting for the school bus outside his house on Leighton Court in Melville.

"I heard the sound of the fire. Like, I heard the sound of the cracking of the house and stuff like that, and then I turned and looked and I seen it," he said. "The flames coming out of the side of the house."

He urgently called his mother.

"He said, 'Mom, the house across the street is on fire. What should I do? Should I go over there or should I just call 911?'" mom Natechia Campbel-Moss said.

While Jovani called 911, she sprinted to wake up her sleeping neighbor.

"I kept banging on the windows. I'm banging on the door. I'm ringing the doorbell," Campbel-Moss said. "[I yelled,] 'Your house is on fire. Your house is on fire.' And she's not hearing me. And I'm banging the windows, banging the windows, and with no sneakers on or nothing, I just kept kicking the door, I kept kicking the door."

Determined and praying, she finally kicked the door off its hinges, and inside, she saw her neighbor, who was unaware of the fire.

"I said, 'Your house is on fire,' and I grabbed her," Campbel-Moss said. "The heat was, like, overpowering."

At school, Jovani is being hailed for his early morning heroics.

"A lot of people calling me a hero. I was like, I'm not really a hero. I'm just being a good neighbor," he said.

His mom said she taught him situational awareness.

"Take out the ear pods. Keep your phone in your pocket until you get on that bus," she said.

"Be aware of everything around you," Jovani said. "Anything can happen."

The house is a massive loss, but a life was saved. The recently widowed homeowner thanked her caring neighbors for looking out for her.

The save is even being recognized by local firefighters, who say Jovani's heroics have earned him a place on their junior firefighter squad.

The cause of the fire is under investigation. It's not believed to be suspicious.