AUSTIN—A firefighter who stopped to pick up a hamburger before rushing to help a woman in respiratory distress has been fired.

Firefighter Michael Pooler’s decision to stop at the Burger House next to his fire station before jumping onto a fire truck delayed the emergency response by two minutes, said Acting Fire Chief Jim Evans.

Evans said in a disciplinary memo released Tuesday that Pooler demonstrated “a shocking neglect of duty” in the Jan. 4 incident. “Immediate response to 911 calls is the very essence of what it means to be an Austin firefighter. ... Because of his selfish and highly unprofessional actions, he has no right to remain an Austin firefighter,” the memo said.

Fire Department spokeswoman Michelle DeCrane said paramedics from Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services reached the patient before firefighters and canceled the firefighter response. The patient’s condition was not known, the Austin American-Statesman reported.

DeCrane said other firefighters did not depart without Pooler, probably because department policy requires four firefighters on most engines and because Pooler was the crew leader.