PORTLAND, Tenn. -- On Friday night, Jacob Barretta, 17, and his stepfather Jimmie Seabolt were doing what they always loved to do: working on a car in their garage.

While the men were working to restore a Camaro, neighbor Jeff Kelton heard an awful noise. Kelton said it sounded like "a loud whoosh and I saw smoke."

It wasn't long before the entire garage on Hillcreek Court was engulfed in flames. Kelton was the fire person to help.

He said, "I saw what appeared to be someone that had kicked a ball of fire, something that was on fire...rolling down the driveway. Then I saw somebody walking and from the waist down they were on fire."

Then the former firefighter's instincts immediately kicked in. Kelton said, "I got up and told Jimmie -- he was the one up walking -- to drop and start rolling around."

And that "ball of fire" that Kelton recalled seeing, was actually Barretta.

Kelton said, "When I got up here, I didn't realize what it was, it was actually Jacob. He was fully on fire."

On Saturday afternoon, there were still remnants of what's left of Barretta's shirt lying in the yard. Kelton and another neighbor helped cut the shirt off the young man. Barretta's singed shoes sit right where they came off.

Kelton said, "He was asking for help and all that. I did what I could. I took my jacket off."

Kelton tried to extinguish the flames with his jacket. Then they tried using the garden hose. Kelton explained, "Jacob (Barretta) was talking and he told me to get the water hose and I really didn't have a choice, other than to do this. I know he probably had gas on him. I really didn't want to, but it was the only choice I had at this time because my jacket wasn't getting the fire out."

Neighbors all helped to move the two men away from the fire. Paramedics flew the victims to Vanderbilt in a LifeFlight helicopter.

Kelton said, "I'm hoping I did enough and praying I did. I mean he's a young kid, he's got his whole life ahead of him."