Neighbors are thanking the Bronx man who alerted sleeping tenants when a fire broke out at an East Gun Hill Road building.

Musician David Burnett showed News 12 what he did after he saw his neighbor panicking outside her smoke-filled apartment: He grabbed his jacket and his violin and began yelling for people to get out. Burnett banged on more than a dozen doors.

“My thought is that I wouldn't want anyone to leave me in a burning building,” he says.

Burnett says his own safety didn’t cross his mind and that his focus was on saving lives.

The tenants say the entire lobby was filled with thick, choking smoke and that they had trouble breathing. The flames may be out at 275 East Gun Hill Road, but the smell of smoke remains.

Though officials are still looking for the cause of the fire, the tenants told News 12 it may have been due to an overheated electric cord.