(firehouse.com) – Off-duty firefighter Roben Duge smelled the smoke, saw the flames and heard the screams from inside his neighbor’s house — and thought instantly of his own family.
Roben Duge, was on his way home at about 6 p.m. when he saw thick black smoke pouring out of the house in Jamaica, Queens, sources said.
“I’m not a hero, I’m just reacting off instinct,” the fearless father said Friday at his Jamaica home, right next door to the fire-damaged house.
His wife Crystal disagreed: “It’s just who he is. He’s Superman.”
The mild-mannered firefighter was headed home from the subway when he noticed the thick black smoke pouring out of his neighbor’s house.
A child playing downstairs in the basement accidentally started the fire — and was too frightened to tell his grandmother as the flames spread quickly, sources said.
Duge, a five-year FDNY veteran, started sprinting toward the two-story residence when he saw the smoke. Visions of his own three kids flashed through his mind.
“When I heard the kids screaming, it hit home,” Duge told the Daily News. “I thought, ‘If I can only get in deep enough’ — and I don’t have any gear, and I don’t know how dangerous it is.”
The grandmother, a stroke victim, was barely able to get around on her own once he made his way inside.
“The lady could stand up, but she needed assistance walking,” recounted Duge. “The kids were screaming, scared to death.”
After getting the three residents out of their house, he assisted them over to his home.
“I gave them water, shelter and blankets for the children, who were cold,” said Duge, sitting inside his home. “(Paramedics) treated them right there on that couch.”
