IRVING (CBS 11 NEWS) – It’s a heroic tale usually reserved for firefighters, but on Thursday it was an Irving police officer who rescued an elderly man from a burning duplex.

When Sgt. Paul Tong pulled up to the duplex on Pioneer Drive, he could barely see as there was so much smoke.

The officer said he knew this was a job better suited for a firefighter, but when he heard a voice screaming for help he decided he had to go inside.

“I couldn’t see him but I could hear him,” said Tong. “So I got down low under the smoke and he was there several feet inside the room. The bed was on fire and something next to the bed was on fire.”

While crawling on his knees, Tong pulled the elderly bedridden man out and onto the front porch.

The man was taken to the hospital with severe burns on his arms.

The sergeant shrugged off the notion of being a hero. As cliché as it may sound, to him it was just another day.

“I’m just glad that everything ended up and everyone ended up okay and I got to go home to my family at the end of the day. That’s all that matters,” said Tong.

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