Nick Dorken, a firefighter from Kitchener, Ont. who was on vacation in Florida, is being hailed as a hero after rescuing a man from a burning car on Thursday.
Dorken, 28, was in Florida with his wife and 2-year-old daughter. Dorken, was stopped at a traffic light when he saw smoke from what he thought was a dumpster fire, reported the Toronto Star.
Fortunately, Dorken turned around and realized that the fire was actually from a burning car. Dorken's wife, Kim, spotted an unconscious man in the car.
Dorken ran towards the car, concerned that he wouldn't be able to save the man but luck was on his side.
The wind was blowing the smoke in the other direction and the driver was on the ground and not trapped.
"He’s sitting in this safe little haven with flames all around him. He wasn’t even connected to anything. No seat belt on," Dorken said to the Toronto Star.
“So many things had to fall in place for it to work out the way it did. If I had been another 30 seconds later he would have been gone,” the Toronto Sun reported.
Dorken, not surprisingly, is being hailed as a hero but the firefighter is saying he's merely doing what he's trained to do.
"I would have expected any firefighter to do the same thing. It was just perfect timing that I was there," Dorken said to the Woodstock Sentinel Review.
"The training just comes to you. But this isn't something that happens, barely ever at all," Dorken told the NBC affiliate in Fort. Myers.
Dorken's wife, Kim, who took photos of the fire, agrees. "I would hope that, heaven forbid, if it were every my family or somebody that I knew and loved, that somebody would turn around and make sure that wasn't a dumpster fire and make sure that we had gotten to safety as well," she said to an ABC affiliate in Florida.
The man who was rescued was apparently sent to hospital with minor injuries. Dorken and his family are continuing their vacation in Florida until next week.