ONLY ON 8: Man saw flames, called for help after apartment complex caught fire 

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – Bill Kingery was headed out the door early Monday morning for a workout, but something caught his eye while stopped at the red light near 27th and Highway Two.

“I see these little flickers and at first I thought, oh some sort of colored lights, or maybe there is a mylar balloon up there and it’s catching traffic lights,” Kingery said. “Then I thought jeez, it looks like a fire.”

His curiosity is what led him to get a closer look and that curiosity potentially saved lives.

“That’s when I knew and then the flames started leaping up and I’m like oh my god, it’s fire. It’s a fire.”

He started yelling the words ‘fire’ and was able to get the attention of a resident who was awake watching TV from his balcony on the third floor of the building.

“He came out and looked at me and looked down and he’s like ‘are you the one yelling there is a fire’ and I said yeah,” Kingery said. “Well I (resident) don’t see any fire, where’s the fire, and I’m like it’s on top of your apartment, turn around and look.”

The fire started on the roof of the complex and because of where it was located, no alarms sounded. Kingery’s attention to his surroundings and detail ultimately is what kept those people safe.

Now, several residents of Southwood Village are calling him their hero.

“I mean he was our angel,” one resident said. “If he ever hears about this, thank you so much for alerting, because if it wasn’t for that person, I don’t know what could have happened.”

Kingery is just happy everyone made it out of the apartment safely and hopes others will look twice and be extra aware of their surroundings. He believes anyone in his situation would have done the same thing.

“I just happened to be there and made the call and I’m sure almost everyone of the people in Nebraska would do the same thing,” Kingery said.