JACKSONVILLE, Fla.- How well do you know your neighbor? Would you call 911 if their home caught fire or would you step in to help?
Craig Unice and his 14-year-old son found themselves answering the call to save a neighbor's home in Middleburg on Sunday.
"We were driving back from Georgia when we saw the smoke and flames coming from the side-by-side," Unice said. "I told my son to go knock on the door and then I found the water and tried to put the flames out, eventually I just started spraying the home because the flames were getting closer to the roof."
Homeowner Curtis Gil said he was across town, enjoying ice cream with his family when a neighbor called him about the fire.
"I checked my security video from my phone and sure enough, I saw the fire," he said. "I thought we were going to lose the home and we had a cat inside, so we were very worried."
When the Gils arrived, firefighters had just put out the flames
"We saw Craig and his son but we thought they were just watching like everyone else," he said. "We didn't know until we reviewed our security tape that they saved our home by spraying it with water. They could have just stood there and watched like other people did, but instead, they made sure no-one was inside the home and then they did their best to protect it."
The father-son duo left before Gil could thank them.
"I put out my surveillance video on Facebook and within a day I found out they were actually neighbors that live less than 2 minutes away. I immediately reached out to them," he said.
Gil and Unice said they're now neighbors for life. While Unice doesn't expect anything in return, he jokes that he wouldn't mind a nice dinner. "Pork chops, pork chops would be nice," he said.
Gil's family will need a new truck, trailer and roof repairs. Fortunately, since he already owns a business, 904 Performance, he has a good home and auto insurance.
"I got on the phone with Farm Bureau and immediately they came out and we already have a check in the mail," he said. "I told them the news was coming out here to do the story and asked if they could wait to tow the damage, it was kind of funny."
Gil said the side-by-side had a part. He recently purchased the UTV from a friend a few weeks ago but there are no hard feelings.
"There was a faulty part on the UTV, which is why I had it on the trailer so I could take it in and replace it," Gil said. "So I called my buddy and told him I had a 'hot deal' for him if he wanted to buy it back from me."