RUSSELLVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — Two off-duty Russellville City Firefighters helped save people from a burning apartment building on Tuesday.

Shane Mansell and Michael Hall have both been with the Russellville Fire Department for around 20 years. They were both traveling to North Carolina at around 5:30 a.m. when they saw the burning building.

Hall told News 19 that they immediately began working to help people evacuate from the building.

“It’s just something that we’ve done for 20 years,” Hall said. “It just comes second-hand, you know?”

After searching the building three times to make sure everyone was evacuated, they spoke with first responders before leaving the scene to continue their trip.

Mansell told News 19 that he never expected to receive so much attention for the act. However, he does hope that this incident serves as an example of what it really means to be a firefighter.

“I would hope that every fireman that takes that oath of being a fireman would do what we did,” Mansell said.