Firefighter Jose Cristales is being hailed as a hero, both in and out of his uniform.

It was his quick thinking that may have saved a woman’s life.

“It was kind of like an instant thing. It wasn’t so simple as, you know, taking a step back or just having time to think. It just happened simultaneously,” Cristales said.

On Thursday morning, Cristales was off duty at his home in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. The firefighter was asleep and suddenly awakened by the sound of screams.

“I immediately sprung into action and went downstairs,” Cristales said.

What he found was a woman who had been hit by a car and was trapped, pinned underneath a wheel.

“All my muscle memory, all my training, just kicks in [for] that one instant,” he said.

Cristales said saving the woman’s life involved teamwork. At first, he thought he and onlookers would need to lift the car. As luck would have it, a bulldozer was nearby.

“It was like the grace of God came and helped the whole scenario,” Cristales said.

He alerted a construction crew who used a bulldozer to pick the car up. That gave Cristales the motivation to grab the victim and begin performing CPR as emergency crews began to arrive.

“This is really about a couple of the values that are truly FDNY values: training, teamwork and being heroes,” FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh said.

On Friday, Kavanagh commended the off-duty firefighter and the other first responders who helped.

“It was only because of their teamwork, their dedication to the City of New York, that I think this was possible,” Kavanagh said.

Despite the praise for his quick thinking, Cristales’ concern is still with the victim.

“Yeah, I get the pat on the back, we all get the pat on the back, for everything that we have done, but it’s also like the feeling of how she [was] going to do,” he said.

The victim is in the hospital with life-threatening injuries, according to officials.