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Postal worker, neighbors act fast to save house from fireBy Barbara Brown Linda Thompson was greeted by applause when she walked in the door of the Stacy Post Office last Wednesday morning. Just the day before, on Jan. 6, Thompson had walked in for work as a regular person. The following day, she was a postal worker who had gone out of her way to make sure one homeowner was safe and that his house was not lost to fire. Thompson has lived in Stacy for 20 years. She is a postal carrier for the Stacy Post Office where she spends several hours a day delivering mail to about 300 residences and businesses in Stacy and Linwood. The day of the house fire, Thompson was performing her daily duties as usual. She followed her normal route to the few businesses she visits each day. Then she left the city limits westbound on CR19 toward Linwood for the second part of her route. As she followed the route to Amazon Street, Thompson said nothing about the day seemed odd. She simply checked the sorted mail in her vehicle, opened mailboxes, deposited love letters, bills, junk mail and magazines and continued down the road. Around 11 a.m., Thompson reached the fourth house on the Amazon Street part of her route; her traditional turn-around point. She looked up and, through her windshield, Thompson saw huge yellow and orange flames licking the front of a house right up the street. The separation between the second and third garage bay on the house was nearly engulfed and Thompson immediately jumped into action. Thompson asked the neighbor if she knew the phone number for the house on fire. After the neighbor said she didnít know it, Thompson said the neighbor went to call 911 as she ran to a second neighborís house. That neighbor, too, did not know the number of the house on fire. ìI was reluctant to go up to the house,î Thompson said. ìMaybe Iíve seen too many movies, but I couldnít help but think that as soon as I got up there something would explode.î Finally, Thompson decided, she had no choice. ìI ran up and pounded on the door and I tried the door knob,î she said. ìI stuck my head in and yelled ëYour garage is on fire,íî she said. He jumped up off the couch and said ìWhat?î Within a few minutes members of the Linwood Fire Department were on the scene. Witnesses said one firefighter got a fire extinguisher off a truck and quickly knocked down the fire. After Thompson saw that everyone was safe, she said she got back in her car and continued delivering the mail. ìI had a route to finish,î she said. The whole time she finished her route, Thompson said, the adrenaline in her system was pumping and she ìcouldnít wait to get back to the Post Office to tell everyone what happened.î Thompson and the neighbor next door had the same thought, it seems. The neighbor called the Post Office and told the story to another employee who, in turn, spread the news. The entire Post Office staff knew what happened before the fire trucks had left the scene. Walking up to the door of the house, the scent of burned wood and siding still lingers. Chunks of blackened pieces of the front of the garage lie strewn in the driveway and along the front walkway. The homeowner said he wanted to thank all his neighbors for helping that day. ìI work nights and I had come home at about 7 a.m.,î he said. He said he was sleeping on the couch around 11 a.m. when he heard a voice yelling something about fire into the house. ìMy first reaction was that my truck caught on fire,î he said. ìAfter I got the truck out and turned around to see the fire, I figured out what it was immediately.î He said his family takes the ashes from their downstairs fireplace and puts them in a metal container outside. The container is then emptied into the garbage on pick-up day. ìSome of those ashes must have not been out,î he said. ìThey must have been hot enough to start the garbage on fire.î The homeowner said he was thankful that the neighbors care enough to look out for each other and that everyone worked together to alert him and the fire department of the fire. ìIf [Thompson] hadnít come down the street when she did to deliver the mail, who knows how far it would have spread,î he said of the fire. ìTiming is everything.î Stacy Postmaster Kathy Horner was out sick on Jan. 6. ìI was sitting home getting the story,î she said. ìProud. That was probably my first thought.î ìI wanted all the details,î Horner said. She even made everyone gather around Thompson last Wednesday morning to tell the tale just one more time for all to enjoy. Horner said the Post Office has weekly safety meetings to discuss potential problems, any concerns the staff may have an a general safety topic. However, she said, the staff meeting does not focus specifically about what to do in case carriers come in contact with emergency situations while on their routes like heart attacks, stolen vehicles or house fires. ìShe could have been in danger by going up there,î Horner said. ìThey are all such good workers and good people. It didnít shock me one bit that she would do that because I know that any one of them would do that. It would just be a natural response,î Horner said. ©ECM Post Review |