Letter Carrier Christine Garcia was recently delivering mail in a Whittier, CA, neighborhood when she smelled smoke outside an older customer’s residence.
As Garcia got closer, she could hear a smoke detector beeping inside the home, and she instantly grew worried that the woman could be in harm’s way.
The Postal Service employee immediately started banging on doors and windows, then alerted a neighbor, who called 911.
Firefighters soon arrived and determined that the woman had fallen asleep while food was burning on her stove, and she had not heard either the smoke detector or Garcia.
“Christine went out of her way to help one of our customers in a life-threatening situation,” said Whittier Postmaster Charles Grant.