A family was able to escape their burning Rock Island home on the afternoon of Christmas Eve.
The three residents inside were upstairs in the home in the 800 block of 43rd Street when they started to smell something burning, according to a resident. When they investigated the basement, where the smell was coming from, smoke was rolling out of the basement.
All of them were able to escape, including a dog and a cat that were in the house.
To help them out, neighbors started collecting money as firefighters worked on scene.
"It's real nice, I've got great neighbors you know, in the winter time I enjoy it, I go up and down, snow blow the sidewalks and stuff for them and I'm just glad they stepped up and helped out, you know which we don't need help, but it's really thoughtful of them to stand up and take care of us like that," said fire victim Paul Michaels.
The damages were unknown.