Firefighters battle vacant house fire in the west valley

PHOENIX (KSAZ) - An empty home filled with flames as dozens of fire crews work to knock it all down.

A woman, who lives next door, watches in disbelief.

"I was asleep," Beryl Johnson said.

Remembering the commotion that woke her up at 5 a.m.

"I could hear this banging on my doors and the windows," she said. "Banging and banging and banging. I finally got up hollering, 'I'm coming, I'm coming!'"

Beryl's neighbors had rushed to her house, becoming more and more afraid as the fire continued to grow.

"Oh, the flames were terrible," she said. "It's a scary thing to see and those fire department, they do a wonderful job. I know I was scared, I was going to lose my house, too."

But Beryl, now with the support of her friend and neighbor, Shirley, looks on and calms down as the fire does too.

Crews succeeded in keeping the flames from spreading, as the fire fight, both complicated and difficult, lasted about 40 minutes.

"They're amazing," she said. "No matter what the situation, they're amazing."

Firefighters had to rush into the blaze when they first got to the scene, as they searched through the flames, but thankfully, no one was inside.

We will always call that kind of act brave, but they will always respond because it's just part of the job.

"Um, you know, this is what we do," said Capt. Aaron Ernsberger, of Phoenix fire. "I mean, this is why the Phoenix Fire Department firefighters are so proud to be here. They love their job and so, we're happy to do it."

There's not much left of the vacant house; the roof is practically gone, the streets are filled with foam from the fire fight and investigators are still sifting through the damage, as they try to figure out what happened.