OCEANSIDE, Calif. (KGTV) — An off-duty fire captain rescued a family of five and their two pets from a burning home in Oceanside on Sunday night.
North County Fire Protection District Fire Captain John Choi was driving home when his son spotted flames coming from a house in the 3900 block of Genine Drive.
"I was on my way home from a birthday dinner celebration," Choi said, "I just turned 44, and my son saw flames, and he was like, I think a house is on fire.”
Despite being off the clock, that didn’t stop Choi from jumping into the job.
"When you see a ramp, you're automatically thinking there's going to be somebody who has difficulty time getting in and out," Choi said. "So I was thinking they're going to need help getting people out.”
Choi ran inside and helped the five adults and two pets safely evacuate. Before exiting, he closed all the interior doors to help limit the fire's spread and slow its extension into the living areas.
His wife and kids also played a role in the response.
"And so she got the car out of the way, got the kids to a safe area, and then my kids started praying for the families," Choi said.
Oceanside Fire Department crews were dispatched at approximately 9:04 p.m. First-arriving units found a working fire involving an exterior shed that had extended to the back of the residence.
Firefighters contained the flames in about 20 minutes, preventing significant damage to the home's interior and attic spaces. No other homes were damaged, and primary and secondary searches confirmed no additional victims were inside.
"Their response was so fast," Choi said.
The home was deemed uninhabitable, and the Red Cross was requested to assist the displaced residents. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Choi says an elderly woman on a fixed income lives in the home, and a GoFundMe has been set up to help the family with repairs.
Choi noted the rescue served as a real-life lesson for his children.
"This is their first residential fire that they sat and watched, and they came home, they're like, So fires can actually really happen in the home," Choi said.
The Oceanside Fire Department credited Choi's quick intervention with protecting lives before on-duty crews arrived. However, Choi believes any other firefighter would have done the same.
"The heart of a firefighter is to make rescues, and so I, there's no way I could sleep with, you know, in a bed knowing that I didn't try to grab everyone out of the building," Choi said.
