East metro firefighter credits thermostat app with saving his home from complete loss after fire [Video]

The community is rallying around an east metro volunteer firefighter and his family after their home suffered major damage in a fire.

But it’s thanks to one piece of technology that likely prevented it from burning to the ground.

Matt Lebeis has been a volunteer firefighter for the Lower St. Croix Valley Fire Department for two years now.

“I’ve always wanted to do it since I was a small kid,” Lebeis said.

But Lebeis and his fiancée, Danielle, never thought they would be the ones needing an emergency response team at their Lake St. Croix Beach home.

“It was like looking at a house that wasn’t mine,” Danielle Vinson said.

If it weren’t for a thermostat and the app connected to it, Lebeis believes his home would be a total loss.

“I had an alert on my phone that said your house is higher than normal,” Lebeis said. “It’s the …