PROVIDENCE — If you call David DeLuise on his cell phone, the ring tone is the musical theme from the movie Superman.

The use of that music is just a coincidence, DeLuise insists; it arose from some joking banter at work. It is not meant to apply, he said, to his exploits at a car crash and a burning house.

But at the rate he is going, who knows.

DeLuise and a friend were driving by a triple-decker at 38 Bridgham St. in the West End of the city Tuesday afternoon when he noticed smoke and then flames. As his friend, Benita Montgomery, called the Fire Department, he rushed to see what he could do.

Repeatedly yelling a warning and braving the choking smoke, he forced his way inside and helped to empty out the building. After his good deed, he left, but the Fire Department called him and asked him to return and give a statement.

When he did, a crowd of bystanders applauded him. A couple of people shook his hand.

The approval carried over at work yesterday — he is a baker at the family business, DeLuise Bakery on Chalkstone Avenue — as his relatives and coworkers congratulated him and said they are proud of what he did.

“You always seem to be in the right place at the right time,” his brother, Anthony, told him.

Said DeLuise, 31, of Warwick, “It was a pretty good feeling … that I could help someone, you know.”

DeLuise would like to have that feeling all the time.

Although he has had some brushes with the law, he aspires to a job as a Providence police officer. Officers have assured him, he said, that a few blemishes are not necessarily disqualifying.

Formerly an amateur boxer, the Cranston High School West graduate does a lot of running and gym work and believes himself to be in fine physical shape for a second career, in law enforcement.

The fire caused extensive damage to the building and left at least 11 adults and 2 children homeless. Two women were treated at Rhode Island Hospital, one for smoke inhalation, according to Battalion Chief James Mirza.

It was not the first time that the baker has been Johnny-on-the-spot.

DeLuise, whose favorite TV show is Rescue Me, a drama based on a troubled New York City firefighter, recalled having helped out at the scene of a four-car pileup on Route 95 in February. Northbound, he parked his car in the breakdown lane, ran across the highway, hopped over the Jersey barrier and assisted several other men in prying open the doors of an overturned car so that the occupants could escape.

“I didn’t stick around for any publicity,” he said. “I took off.”

gsmith@projo.com