LAWRENCEBURG, Tenn. -- John Carroll said a bad back makes him an unlikely hero.

"I told everybody, I says, 'God had to be with us both,'" said Carroll. "My adrenaline must have kicked in, and I had 10 times my strength."

When he heard an explosion Monday afternoon, Carroll went into action, pulling John Forsythe next door from his burning home.

"Got him up, drug him out," he said.

Carroll said it took five seconds to get Forsythe, who was home alone, out of the house. He was battling smoke and flames all the way.

Carroll actually lives eight miles away in another part of Lawrenceburg. He was mowing his son's lawn when he heard a boom and went into action.

"I was scared out of my mind," he said. "I feel blessed, because I could've gotten burned."

Carroll was once a volunteer firefighter.

Forsythe is at the Vanderbilt Burn Center. Family members said he has second- and third-degree burns on his back, shoulders, legs and elbows. His surgery was scheduled for Friday morning; he was in stable condition Thursday evening.

Firefighters are still investigating what happened.