A fire sparked by a candle lit during a power outage could have had a more tragic outcome if it weren't for some very brave neighbors who sprung into action, fire officials said.

The fire started Monday afternoon in the basement of a home in 600 block of West Allen Street in Allentown.

Dumpster after dumpster of debris was hauled away from the charred home on Tuesday.

"You didn't see no flames, but saw heavy smoke pouring out of the house," said Kyle Fuller, who was walking by the home around the time the fire started.

Fueling the fire, investigators said, was floor to ceiling stacks of cardboard boxes, electrical equipment and paper.

"The owner of the house, he broke the basement window, and when he did that, that's when the flames started coming out even worse," said neighbor Carlos Melendez.

Melendenz , Fuller and Francisco Santiago ran inside the home to help the family.

"It was like a hoarder. You ever seen the TV show 'Hoarders?' It's like papers and a lot of junk everywhere," Santiago said. "I ran back inside and rescued his mother and father."

"You couldn't see nothing,  couldn't see anything," said Fuller. "Too dark."

Fire crews said the homeowner, Dan Vuong, tried to put the flames out himself and didn't call 911.

Luckily, Fuller did. Investigators credited the neighbors with saving at least the lives of the homeowner, his parents and his brother.

The first firefighters to arrive on the scene said they couldn't get inside the home because of the debris and thick smoke.

After three tries, a bulldozer finally had to be brought in to tear down the home's walls.

The American Red Cross said 19 people were displaced because of the fire.

Neighboring homes suffered heavy smoke damage.

Hoarders are more common than you might think, said fire officials..