1/1/2020 12:41 PM PT

Tom Brokaw got a very rude awakening on the first day of the 2020s … but it ultimately saved his life.

The former "NBC Nightly News" anchor and his wife awoke to a blaze in their Upper East Side building Wednesday morning, which was reportedly 2 floors above their 12th-floor apartment.

https://www.tmz.com/2020/01/01/tom-brokaw-wife-lucky-escape-building-fire-nyc/