Dale Edens, out for a ride on his four-wheeler, was coming down the hill in the Wolf Pen Drive area of Sissonville on Wednesday morning when he saw smoke.
It was about 9:25 a.m. when he noticed that the right side of the house at 1222 Wolf Pen Drive was ablaze.
He raced down to Smitty's, an auto parts store down the street, to get help and have someone call the fire department.
When Edens and coworker Rocky Tucker got to the house, it was still intact. They could hear the fire in the attic, but they were focused on waking up the man who lived in the home.
"We had to drag him out," Tucker said. "He didn't believe what was going on."
In the meantime, a woman who also lived there scrambled back and forth, trying to gather irreplaceable family photographs.
By the time the Sissonville Fire Department - with an assist from Malden Fire Department and Taylor Mountain Fire Department - put out the fire, the home was a total wreck.
"What doesn't have fire damage has water damage," said Sissonville Fire Chief Tim Gooch.
The people who lived in the house were grandparents, as evidenced by the trampoline in the side yard. Both were able to make it out alive and will be receiving aid from the Red Cross.
There were three white rocking chairs on the porch and the railing was decorated with green garland and lights for Christmas.
Amid the rubble and debris inside the house, there were remnants of what looked like an artificial Christmas tree.
"It's a heart breaker," Gooch said. "Especially this time of year."
For Edens, who lives across the street from the burned house, coming to the aid of the family was a no-brainer.
"It's just something you should do," he said.
And Tucker doesn't consider himself extra brave.
"I didn't even think nothing about it," Tucker said.
Reach Daniel Desrochers at dan.desrochers@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4886 or follow @drdesrochers on Twitter.