. >> reporter: that day was march 6th, 2011 -- a raw and rainy sunday in tea neck, new jersey. henry rodzen was the first to spot trouble. >> reporter: what was happening that night? >> i had a flat tire earlier in the day, and i had to come back to fix it. it was raining, it was windy. it was just very miserable. >> reporter: when we met up with rodzen -- almost five years after that gloomy night, the weather had changed, but his recollections had not. >> started puttin' all the -- all my tools away. for some reason, i just happened to look up, and i saw smoke goin' across the street. >> reporter: from the corner house? >> from -- goin' across from the corner house, goin' across through right. so i said, okay, well lemme take a quick jog over, see what's goin' on. >> reporter: what henry saw, once he reached the corner of terhune and elm, removed any doubt for the former volunteer firefighter. >> as soon as i saw that there was a bright amber glow, i knew that was definite fire. so i decided to just quickly run back to my girlfriend, i said listen, call 911, there's a house that's o