Officer Bill Beaudette of the St. Paul Police Department in Minnesota was going about his routine Thursday when things took a dangerous turn.

Beaudette saw smoke in the distance, so he immediately went towards the area of Case Avenue and Forest Street, KARE 11 reported Friday.

It was not long until Beaudette realized a house was on fire, and quickly alerted other first responders.

In a social media post, the police department said Beaudette ran towards the home to make sure there were no individuals trapped inside:

The duplex was full of smoke. Officer Beaudette was able to help a resident from the upper unit get outside. But when he knocked on the door to the lower unit, there was no answer. Officer Beaudette couldn’t confirm the unit was unoccupied and didn’t want to take any chances. He kicked the door open and found four children inside, ages ranging from three to seven years old.

A fire can become extremely dangerous in about two minutes, and a house can be fully engulfed in five minutes, according to Ready.gov.

“Heat is more threatening than flames. Room temperatures in a fire can be 100 degrees at floor level and rise to 600 degrees at eye level. Inhaling this super-hot air will scorch your lungs and melt clothes to your skin,” the website said.

According to police, the children were saved and reunited with their father. Meanwhile, firefighters arrived and put out the blaze.

A photo showed the officer kneeling next to three of the children:

“Officers don’t get to choose calls. These calls choose the officers. Officer Beaudette was in the right place, at the right time, and was able to change the course of this event for this family,” the agency said, adding Beaudette was a 29-year law enforcement veteran and the most senior officer with the department.

Social media users praised the officer for his bravery while in the face of extreme danger, one person writing, “God bless this true hero.”

“Those children are alive because of him, thank God for our police officers,” another commented.

It was unclear what started the fire.