captain scott kilpatrick's story from prince george's county. >> reporter: there's a saying in the fire service your most important call is the next one and no one knows that more than fire captain scott kilpatrick. >> i was praying god, get me out of this. >> reporter: last night the 20 year veteran of the department raced into a burning building on huntley square in temple hills after hearing screams for help. inside on a second floor was an elderly woman trapped and overcome by smoke and flames. >> she says i can't breathe. it's hot. it's smoky. so i took my regulator off and started sharing my air with her. >> reporter: but then the problem got worse. the woman was immobilized. the flames were growing and the air tank they were sharing began to get low. that's when he quickly realized he, too would need to be rescued. >> i tried to declare a mayday. >> reporter: you can hear the call for help over the fire radio. >> rescue, above the fire division 2. >> you say you're with the victim on division 2 above the fire, correct? >> that's correct. i'm sharing my air with her. >> reporter:

but this modest reaction shows just how prince george's county fire captain scott kilpatrick feels about the daring rescue last night. >> i really didn't feel like a hero. >> reporter: the 20 year department veteran was responding to an elderly woman who had been trapped in a fire on huntley square in temple hills. once he got to her both of them were overcome by smoke and flames. knowing he had to do something to keep them both alive he began sharing his air supply from his tank with the woman. >> i was sharing my air the whole time talking with her. it was tough because she had a death grip on me. she was holding me tight. >> reporter: soon after the air ran out. >> my alert started going off. i told them i was low on air, that i was out of air. >> reporter: he called for a mayday and shielded the woman as they both waited for help. >> rescue. above the fire. division 2. >> you say you're with the victim on division 2 above the fire, correct? >> that's correct. i'm sharing my air with her. >> reporter: the pair were later pulled out of the raging blaze but not before captain kilpatrick

their fire captain scott kilpatrick pulled off a daring rescue last night and he got out alive to talk about it. in the fire service your most important call is the next one and no one knows that more than fire captain scott kilpatrick. >> i was praying god, get me out of this. >> reporter: last night the 20 year veteran of the department raced into a burning building on huntley square in temple hills after hearing scrams for high pressure. inside on a second floor was an elderly woman trapped and was being overcome by smoke and flames. >> chef says i can't breathe. it's hot. it's smoky. so i took my regulator off and started sharing my inch. >> reporter: but the problem got worse. the woman was immobilized. the flames were growing and the air tank they were sharing began to get low. that's when he quickly realized he, too, would need to be rescued. >> i tried to declare mayday. >> reporter: you can hear the call for help over the fire radio. >> i need rescue. she's alive. >> you say you're with the victim on division 2 above the fire, correct? >> correct. i'm sharing my air with her.

we spoke to captain scott kilpatrick about this dangerous rescue. >> reporter: he shinuns the hers label. a safety officer may show up to a fire scene in one of these or one of these, but he's still a firefighter. he's still got the gear and can still be called upon to save a life at a moment's notice. >> we heard a woman say, hey, it's hot up here, help me, help me, i'm upstairs. >> reporter: the fire started in a kitchen, and we quickly climbed a ladder. they could barely see and the woman could barely breathe. it was all he could do to use his radio. >> i'm with the rescue. she's alive. above the fire floor, region 2. >> i just told command i'm going to start sharing my air with her. i took the regulate or off and started sharing my air with her. it basically free flowing. >> reporter: between breaths, he said he talked to the woman, but the apartment was about to reach a flash point. the carpet had start to do bubble from the heat. he was met by even more smoke and flames. >> so i closed it, said a quick prayer, got help me to get out of this. >> it was super-heated air and gases tha