Good Samaritan saves family from Jersey City fire

A Good Samaritan saved a Jersey City family from a house fire Thursday, helping them avoid a second fire tragedy in 20 years.
Quick-thinking Michael Perrier alerted residents of the fire on Palisades Avenue and Griffith Street while he was waiting outside to pick up his sister. "I started ringing all the doorbells and told my sister to call the fire department," Perrier said. "That place went up like a matchstick."
The three-alarm fire was so fierce, firefighters were forced to retreat and assess the situation at one point. The home was destroyed.
Dr. Rohan Somar thanks Perrier for his quick thinking, saying his mother and another relative were inside. He lost family members in a Hoboken fire 20 years ago.
"It's just tough because we unfortunately had a tragic fire ? that 17 family members died in," Somar said. The victims included aunts, uncles and cousins.
A firefighter suffered a minor injury while climbing a rear fire escape in Thursday's blaze. Somar calls Perrier a "hero," which the Good Samaritan denies.
"Not at all. I'm a friend of the community, I would do it for anybody," Perrier said.