Lee Spargo initially set up an outdoor trail camera at his home near Mount Holly in hopes of catching a wild fox that had been hunting his chickens. But he was aware of another danger Tuesday night when the camera caught footage of his house being swallowed in flames.
A fire inside Lee's home triggered (触发) the camera and sent an alarm to his phone around 2:22 a.m. Lee woke up thinking he had caught the fox, but soon realized that his house was on fire instead.
"If I didn't set up the equipment, we'd all be dead. It saved our lives," he said. "I got up, Thinking 'Oh, the fox is out there and I'm going to get him'. And then I saw a big reflection in the kitchen and I was considering, 'What's that?'"
Lee said he quickly jumped into action and got his wife Rhonda and his two kids Jonathan and Meagan out of the burning building. The family was also able to rescue two of their four dogs from the fire. Unfortunately, Lee's 4-year-old Lulu and 2-year-old Sampson did not survive.
"We were yelling for them to get out, but the poor things were just so scared. They were just trying to hide," Lee said.
Lee and his family also said they lost a number of personal belongings in the fire, including a treasured clock that had survived another fire at a relative's home years ago. "We've been here for a long time. We raised our kids here," he said. "We lost all in a couple hours. But at least I still have my family."