CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Lisle police officer rushed into a burning home early Wednesday morning, saving a 14-year-old boy's life.

Officer Bill Wise's quick thinking saved a bad situation from turning tragic when he was on patrol in the area of Wayfaring Lane and heard calls on the radio about a fire.

"I see a large number of neighbors outside, kind of frantic and pointing to the house that's on fire," he said.

What he found was a house engulfed in flames.

"Very intense and very high. Going straight up, high up to the trees and then there was a woosh," said Lynda Johnson, who lives across the street.

What was worse is Wise heard someone inside.

"I could hear the boy yelling from the basement," he said. "'Help me! Help me! I'm in here! I can't get out!'"

After 21 years with the Lisle Police Department, he had never had to rescue someone from a burning building, but he gave it all he had. First he tried the front door, but it was locked. He kicked it in, but he was blocked.

"I was met by a wall of smoke and fire," Wise said.

He described the tunnel vision he had as he tried to calm the boy through the clouds of smoke, trying to find a way to get them both out safely, until he saw something along the wall.

"I saw his arm poking out of the window well. There was a cover on it," he said.

Wise hauled the air conditioning unit aside and told the 14-year-old to hold on.

"I grabbed the boy's arm and pulled him up where he could crawl out," he said.

Both the officer and the teen were treated for smoke inhalation and are expected to be OK.

Though Wise didn't get much sleep, it is not evident from the smile on his face.

"It's part of our job," he said. "If anybody else were put in that situation I think they would have done the same thing."

All four units of the house had to be evacuated.

The cause of there is still under investigation.