HOWARD LAKE, Minn. — Alerted to a garage fire by his 7-year-old son, Richard Block had to act fast.
"Kind of went into panic mode a little bit," he said.
As the flames spread to his house in Howard Lake, Block made sure his family was safe — he, his girlfriend, and the six kids between them — as well as his four dogs and his lizard.
But then the fire spread to his next-door neighbor.
"I did hear her little Chihuahua bark, then it kind of kicked in — she's not even home. I looked in the driveway and sure enough she wasn't home," Block said.
Flames and smoke coming through the back — he got her three dogs out of the kennels in the front.
"I really think I was on autopilot more than anything. Just do what needs to be done. Don't even think about it. Just go do it," Block said.
And then, an ember from the two burning homes floated over the house next door and landed on the St. James Lutheran Church steeple.
"To turn and see the steeple on fire, for a moment, my heart sunk," said Pastor Mark Loder.
His parsonage had been mostly spared but he feared the church was about to burn down. Firefighters were able to prevent that and contain the flames to the top of the steeple -- saving the church.
"But more importantly, there's two families that have lost their homes," Loder said.
Pastor Loder has been directing all attention to the families now in need.
"It's nice to see the community come together when you really need it the most. I couldn't be more grateful for everybody. The church, the community, even the shoes I'm wearing are from some random person that helped me out with shoes. I didn't have any shoes on. It's amazing to see the overwhelming support everyone gives us," Block said.
St James Lutheran Church is collecting toys and clothing to help the two families that lost their homes.
WATCH MORE ON KARE 11+
Download the free KARE 11+ app for Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV and other smart TV platforms to watch more from KARE 11 anytime! The KARE 11+ app includes live streams of all of KARE 11's
dd KARE 11+ on Roku here or by searching for KARE 11 in the Roku Channel Store.
- Add KARE 11+ on Fire TV here or by searching for KARE 11 in the Amazon App Store.
- Learn more about the KARE 11+ app for Apple TV in the Apple App Store.
- Learn more about KARE 11+ here.
Watch more local news:
Watch the latest local news from the Twin Cities and across Minnesota in our YouTube playlist: