ST. AMANT, LA (WAFB) -
Firefighters say 84-year-old Noble Keller barely escaped his burning home early Friday morning in St. Amant.
Investigators say the man had made a pot of jambalaya and had put some grease on the stove to make something to go with it.
They say the grease apparently caught fire and spread throughout home on Brignac.
"It looked like a big bonfire- just lit up," said Derek LeBlance, the St. Amant assistant fire chief.
The 84 year old homeowner is on oxygen and was able to crawl out of his home. Keller made it to his brother-in-law's house next door.
"As I was coming down the hall I could see the fire," said Melvin Delatte.
"He said my house is on fire and told me to call 911."
St. Amant firefighters called in back up from surrounding areas and were able to save the man's two car garage area but not his home.
The elderly man's family is just happy he made it out safely.
"He said he got out by feeling the walls, the house was full of smoke, and with him on oxygen- I mean it's amazing what a person can do when they are under that kind of stress," Dalatte said.
Doctors are keeping the elderly man in the hospital for a night or two- to make sure he's alright.
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Flames shot into the air as the fire consumed this house in St. Amant.
