North Carolina Family Lucky to Escape Blaze

MECKLENBURG COUNTY, N.C. --

Flames scorched nearly everything Andy Modzik owns, from his south Charlotte home to his car -- everything except what's most important to him, his two children.

"A home is a family. That's the most important thing, and they're safe. I just thank God they're safe," Modzik said.

He said he noticed the fire around 9 p.m. Tuesday. His son smelled something suspicious so the pair searched the house on Arvind Oaks Court in the Ballantyne community.

"When we opened the garage door, the outside garage door, the whole thing just fire-balled, so we got out of the house," Modzik said.

His daughter called 911 after they reached safety.

As the house was going up in flames, Modzik and his children, ages 12 and 14, noticed his car was dangerously close to the flames.

Modzik jumped in and drove the car away from the home to prevent it from exploding and spreading the fire to his neighbors' house.

"The kids started saying, 'The car is going to set fire, the car is going to explode,' so I ran up and got the car and backed it down, but it was burning already, as you can see," he said, showing Eyewitness News the damage.

As he watched the video of massive flames shooting from the roof of his home, he only had one thing to say.

"Thank God we got out," he said.

Fire investigators are still trying to determine what caused the blaze.

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