March 16--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." 
 
 The fire was brought under control after about 30 minutes. Duge, reflecting on his daring rescue, shrugged off the praise that arrived via text and voicemail from fellow firefighters. 
 
 "We operate in organized chaos and we do put ourselves at risk," said the Flatbush native. "I believe there's a higher power watching over me when I do put myself in these situations." 
 
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– A grandmother in Queens and her two grandkids are alive today because of an off-duty firefighter's quick thinking. The New York Daily News reports Roben Duge, who's been with the FDNY for five years, had just emerged from the subway on his way home Thursday night, and as he approached his own place, he spotted sooty black smoke coming out of his neighbor's home. He had no gear and no time to get any—but that didn't stop Duge from rushing into the home and yanking out 54-year-old Linda Mitchell, a stroke victim who needs a cane to get around, and the two children, one of whom apparently started the fire by accident in the basement. Duge says he was "reacting off instinct," which doesn't surprise his wife, Crystal. "It's just who he is," she says. "He's Superman." Duge said all he could think about was his own three kids as he rushed to save the trapped residents. "The lady could stand up, but she needed assistance walking," he says, per Firehouse.com. "The kids were screaming, scared to death." After he got them to safety, firefighters doused the flames in about 30 minutes. Duge is trying to deflect the praise now coming his way. "We operate in organized chaos and we do put ourselves at risk," he says, but "I believe there's a higher power watching over me when I do put myself in these situations."