Newark mayor rescues neighbor from burning house

"He's one of the most heroic men I've ever met," said Fateen Ziyad, whose firefighters arrived minutes after getting a call from the mayor's security detail. "He's showing his true grit. This is the type of mayor we have — he doesn't just talk it, he walks it."

As mayor, Booker has been known to ride along with police on late-night patrols, once even chasing down a robbery suspect. The Peabody award-winning Sundance Channel series "Brick City" documented his efforts to decrease the city's crime rate and tackle its ongoing financial problems. He's even shoveled out resident's cars during a blizzard that snarled his city and the rest of the Northeast in 2010.

A prolific social media user, he tweeted late Thursday that he was fine and thanked his followers for their well-wishes.

"Thanks 2 all who are concerned. Just suffering smoke inhalation," Booker tweeted. "We got the woman out of the house. We are both off to hospital. I will b ok."

He then posted a tweet early Friday that read: "Thanks everyone, my injuries were relatively minor. Thanks to Det. Alex Rodriguez who helped get all of the people out of the house."

The Twitter-sphere was blowing up Friday with thousands of tweets from Booker's million-plus Twitter followers about the rescue.

Even Gov. Chris Christie tweeted, wishing Booker a speedy recovery and adding; "Brave move, Mr. Mayor."

Follow Samantha Henry at http://www.twitter.com/SamanthaHenry