Even if he was off-duty, FDNY firefighter Mike Shepherd did not have second thought about climbing a building ablaze when a blast shook East Village. Shepherd was down then block when he heard a loud bang.

The fireman in him took over and Shepherd started to run toward the corner. Upon reaching 121 Second Ave., he raced up the building to check if there are trapped residents who need assistance.

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On the second floor, there was a woman who needed direction going down, so he helped her. Then Shepherd checked each floor until he reached the top of the building. By then, he realized he was in real danger.

"I could feel the heat and the smoke, and I said, 'gotta get outta here now,'" NBC quotes Shepherd. When he looked down, he saw a 9-truck arriving and a 33-engine. Assessing the situation, he thought that on a worst case scenario, "they'll have to put the bucket up and grab me."

Shepherd recalls at that moment, he thought of his family, wife, kids and grandchildren, but he knew in his heart he did the right thing. As a third-generation firefighter, he said it was already in his blood that he couldn't walk away without helping, which is also a trait of a New Yorker.

According to the NYPD, there were crews working on a gas line in the area when the explosion occurred, while a customer at Sushi Park inside the building heard an explosion inside the restaurant's kitchen, reports CBS.

Meanwhile, in a show of neighborly concern, the Standard Hotel In offered free three nights of stay to residents of the burnt building. Uber, the car-hailing service notorious for jacking up prices when demand is high, offered free rides from East Village on Thursday evening, according to Huffington Post.

Tagsfire, firefighters, East Village, New York City, Mike Shepherd