"I thought it was odd to have a puff of smoke in the middle of the road," Faraco said.

So they stopped, turned the car around and parked in front of the house at 13555 Saratoga Vista Ave., where a fire was raging. Faraco, 76, proceeded to lean on the horn, flash the car lights and bellow "Fire, fire," to catch the residents' attention—but nothing happened.

Mary Lou, 67, said it was well over two or three minutes before a neighbor a few doors down from the house fire on the adjacent Thelma Avenue finally came outside to see what the "ruckus" was about and proceeded to call 911. Dispatch received that first 911 call at 11:35 p.m., and subsequent calls from neighbors after that. Faraco said he tried banging on the front door, but there was no answer from inside the house.

"This car was lit up like a blooming Christmas tree," Mary Lou said. "There he was pounding on the door, and there was no response. If my house was on fire, I would really appreciate it if someone knocked on my door."

The couple said they were upset that neighbors didn't respond sooner or chose not to come outside to find out what was happening

"Maybe they all take sleeping pills," said George jokingly.

Shortly after emergency services were summoned, Santa Clara County sheriff's deputies James Jensen and Todd Wyman arrived at the house, and when the Faracos were asked to move their vehicle they left the scene.

Jensen and Wyman said although they don't recall instructing the Faracos to move their vehicle, it was likely they did because the street had to be blocked off to prevent congestion.

"Our first goal is public safety," Wyman said. "To have people standing around and looking only puts them in harm's way."

Jensen said he remembers telling the neighbor to the west of the house fire to immediately stop spraying water on a high voltage wire with a garden hose.

The deputies were told by neighbors that the family—a mother, a father and two boys under age 10—was still inside the house. They proceeded to bang on the front door and broke the window to the left of the front door to wake up the family.

The mother inside the house came to the front door, but was unable to unlock the deadbolt. So with one swift kick, Wyman knocked down the front door. Wyman said the family was taken to safety at the neighbor's house across the street just as the county fire department arrived to extinguish the flames.

"We talked to the kids," Wyman said. "They were very quiet and more in shock than anything else."

Neither Jensen nor Wyman remember hearing any smoke detectors going off in the house. Wyman said there was only one nonfunctioning smoke detector inside the house, which was a personal concern to him.

"The next day, I put batteries in all of my smoke detectors and bought an extra one," he said.

The Faracos also stressed the importance of making sure smoke detectors in the home are always functioning properly.

"Smoke detectors are a really handy thing to have," George said. "They are only $9."

The crossbeams on the roof of the garage are now charred and exposed, and officials have boarded up the garage and window to the left of the front door. The fire is believed to have started in the garage due to an electrical problem, said fire investigator and Capt. Don Olson, but the exact cause is still under investigation. The damage estimate for the structure and contents, including the two cars in the garage, is $300,000. The neighboring house to the west on Thelma Avenue also experienced minor damage to the roof.

Seema Prabhakar, who lives in the house across the street from the one that caught fire, said her family took care of the mother, father and two boys the night of the fire until they were able to contact relatives for another place to stay. Prabhakar said she made sure the family had warm clothing and sleeping bags and insisted the two boys eat breakfast the next morning.

"It was all really scary," she said. "We were just glad everyone was OK."

Assistant Fire Chief Ron Vega said he was one of the first of the crew who arrived on the scene to extinguish the flames. He said the homeowners had already been removed from the house by the deputies before he arrived.

He also said the fire caused minimal damage to the house, and the homeowners were able to extract many of their possessions that night so they could stay at the Prabhakar residence. He added that many of the neighbors in the area may not have been aware the fire happened because of the late hour.

"It was a small fire in comparison to most fires," Vega said. "It went very smoothly. It was an operation we are used to dealing with."