Amazon driver hailed a hero for helping Long Island family out of burning house

SYOSSET, NY – A Long Island delivery driver is hailed a hero for running into a burning house to save a family.

The driver shared his heartbreaking story with CBS2’s Tim McNicholas on Sunday night.

The aftermath of the fire reveals boarded up windows and tarpaulins. Parts of the house are cremated, but everyone living there is fine.

Syosset firefighters arrived at the home on Bluebird Drive just four minutes after the 911 call and found a family standing outside.

“I just watched the fire get bigger and bigger,” Kevin Rivera said.

Rivera had already helped get them out.

“Everyone is calling me a hero,” Rivera said.

The Amazon driver said he was finishing his drive just after 4 p.m. on Saturday when he saw the flames near the front of the house. He said he saw several people inside through an open front door, including a woman and a baby who were apparently unaware of the fire.

“I rushed, because I didn’t want anyone to die in that house,” Rivera said.

He said he told the six or seven people inside about the flames, but due to a language barrier they didn’t understand at first.

“They were just confused,” Rivera said.

He urged them to exit through the back door, away from the flames. Eventually they did and then they saw the house.

“They just started crying. They just got emotional,” Rivera said.

A woman named Amanda Johnson, who lives in the area, filmed the fire.

“It would have been a lot worse,” Johnson said.

When she heard about Rivera’s actions, she posted her story on social media and praised the driver.

“I thought that was awesome,” Johnson said.

Now the neighborhood that normally thanks him for his deliveries thanks him for so much more than that.

“To be honest, I feel good that I did something,” Rivera said.

No one in the house was seriously injured. Investigators are trying to figure out what caused the fire.