(ABC 6 News) – Anna Neve was waking the little one up for a diaper change on the morning of Tuesday, March 11, just three days after she delivered her firstborn, a girl she named Jersey. 

Neve and her mother, Kendra Shaw, shared a trailer at Ponderosa Court in Nora Springs. 

17-year-old Jaxson Ott of Rockford said he was driving westbound on the highway near the entrance to the trailer park, when he saw a plume of black smoke. 

“I had a trailer, I was helping my dad haul scrap metal,” Ott said. “But I pulled in, saw the whole deck was on fire.” 

An apparent electrical fire had sparked on the deck, leaving him with just seconds to react. 

“It was starting to spread to the wall, so I walked right up to the door, kicked it in,” he said. 

Neve and Shaw were startled. 

“He busted in,” Neve said. “I had just woken up.” 

“Oh yeah,” Ott said. “They were shocked to see me in there. I don’t blame them,” he laughs. “But I told them, there’s a fire, you have to get out right now.” 

They escaped through the back door and dialed 911. The trailer was a complete loss, but the occupants’ lives were surely saved thanks to the quick reaction of a complete stranger. 

“He’s definitely a blessing,” said Shaw. “I mean, the way it all happened so quickly and suddenly, if he hadn’t seen it, we probably wouldn’t have made it.” 

Shaw said they successfully relocated after help from family, friends and donations through GoFundMe, “We just closed it,” she said, “We’ve got everything to get our family started all over again.”