Taken from DecaturDaily.com:
Fire damages Decatur home
Substitute mail carrier praised for calling
9-1-1
By Catherine Godbey
Staff Writer
Denise Warren turned onto 21st Avenue Southwest, mail stacked on the passenger’s seat. It was 9:30 a.m. and so far an uneventful morning for the mail carrier who was subbing for the regular carrier.
But then she passed by 1311 21st Ave. S.W.
“I saw smoke and thought someone was burning something in their backyard; that’s what it looked like,” said Warren. “When I came back by, I knew something was wrong.”
The blue-uniformed mail carrier turned into an emergency responder and rescue worker. Warren called 911 and alerted Henry Tucker, a neighbor and brother of the home owner.
“We went in and I searched on the bed where he sleeps. Thank goodness he wasn’t there. There is no way anyone could get out of that,” said Warren, who had trouble breathing as she turned onto 22nd Avenue, returning to her normal duties.
Heavy smoke billowed from the brick house as Decatur Fire and Rescue arrived. Ladder 4 and Engines 1, 2 and 5 responded.
Forrest Tucker stood solemnly, watching firefighters through a blackened window as they rushed through his childhood home.
“I was born in that place,” said Forrest Tucker, the home owner who was at a neighbor’s house when the fire started. “They say it started in the loft and then spread. I don’t know how it could have started.”
“I thought he was in there. It was the worst feeling. I hated that. I just hated that,” Henry Tucker added.
Deputy Fire Marshal Lt. Danny Engle said the entire house sustained smoke and heat damage.
“It wasn’t a total loss, some things inside the house were salvageable, but there was heavy fire damage in half of the house,” Engle said.
Firefighters battled the fire for an hour, eliminating all of the hot spots.
This is the second fire to damage the home where Forrest Tucker and his seven siblings lived. According to Felice Tucker, a sister, the first fire occurred about 25 years ago. The family never learned what caused the fire.
“We were able to save the house that time and our father remodeled the home after that fire,” Henry Tucker said. “But we may not be able to save it this time. It may be a total loss.”
Engle classified Wednesday’s event as an electrical fire. The fire started in the front of the house and spread to the attic, he said.
Henry Tucker believes the fire could have spread and caused more damage, if not for Warren.
“I am certainly thankful the mail lady stopped,” he said. “Who would have thought, the mail lady.”
Note: Postmarks thanks Lisa Carter for bringing this story to our attention.
