Army Cpl. Eldred Dioquino said he was on his way to have breakfast at his mother-in-law's house when he saw smoke pouring out of the front of a neighboring home.

ELDRED DIOQUINO

He said he and the wo-man tried to lift the man to carry him out of the house, at 99-252 Ohi-alomi Place, but couldn't budge him.

Dioquino said he later learned that the man was an invalid who recently had been released from the hospital after having brain surgery.

"We tried to move him and the smoke was getting thicker and thicker and we were having a hard time to breathe," Dioquino said.

He said he told the woman to crouch down as he was doing, and they found the air closer to the floor easier to breathe.

"I told her call 911 and she did and I was asking her to get a garden hose or a bucket of water to throw on the fire. My focus was on the fire because we could not move the man."

Dioquino said he used a hose to keep the fire at bay until firefighters arrived at the home and took over.

Fire Battalion Chief Clinton Wong said the fire was confined to the kitchen of the older, one-story wooden home.

Vernette Oliveira is escorted away from her Salt Lake home after fire broke out in the house at 99-252 Ohialomi Place this morning. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

Wong said fire investigators were called to determine the cause of the fire. No damage estimate was immediately available.

The two residents were taken to a hospital for treatment of minor smoke inhalation, Wong said.

Wong told Dioquino he planned to submit his name for a Fire Department commendation.

"I just did what we are trained to do," Dioquino told Wong.

Dioquino, 38, said he is supposed to be in Iraq with his Army unit, but was allowed to stay behind in Hawai'i because his wife is ill.