Years of training were not enough to prepare firefighter Alika Naluai for the emergency call his crew received last week. Naluai and his team responded to a fire at his own home. “At first I thought it was farther away, but when I heard my address I had a sinking feeling that came over me,” said Naluai, who has also served in the Army. The alarm sounded about one o’clock in the morning on Tuesday. Paoakalani Naluai, Alika’s wife, was home with their children at the time of the fire. She woke up with a strange feeling, that’s when she heard the crackling of a fire. Naluai yelled for their children immediately after and all four of their girls made it out of the home safely.

But their father, who was pulling up to the scene of the fire, didn’t know that yet.

“Just getting there, it was a surreal sight, all of the smoke coming out of our house,” Alika Naluai said. “It was started on the first floor, smoke and flames were coming out of almost everywhere. So, I knew it was pretty bad already and escalating pretty quickly.” He took a hose through the front door, attacking the flames at the fridge where the fire started. His wife recalls her hero springing into action.

“I was standing outside in front of the neighbor’s house watching as he just jumped out of the truck and ran into the house.” Naluai thought his family was still in the house. “For a small moment, he thought we were still trapped,” she said. That small window of time was the most fearful and troubling time that the Army veteran and firefighter has ever lived through. “Once I saw that there were enough firefighters at home to take care of whatever the issue was, I went to go check on my family to see if they were OK,” Alika Naluai said. “My wife was outside, and I just took my gear off and gave her a hug.” Reunited with his girls, he took a moment to take a deep breath of relief. He also realized he had three missed calls and a voicemail from his youngest daughter. “I just kept on saying dad. I didn’t know what to say,” said Kealana Naluai.