Mail carrier honored for putting out fire on her route

Cedar Rapids mail carrier Angie Martin completed part of her route with soot on her face last month.

Martin, 35, of Cedar Rapids, was honored Monday for extinguishing a fire before it got out of control inside an apartment building on Nov. 10. Before her 10 years with the postal service, Martin was trained as a volunteer firefighter, but never got the chance to help put out a fire.

That November day, she saw people standing outside of an apartment building at 127 20

^th

Ave. SW and asked what was happening. When she peered inside the window, she said she saw three-foot flames shooting up from a sink.

Martin said she went inside the smoky apartment and used a dry-powder extinguisher on the fire before firefighters arrived.

“You feel protective of the people on your route,” Martin said. “It's like an extended family, even though I don't really know them.”

On Monday, Martin received a certificate from the Cedar Rapids Fire Department and a letter of commendation from former Postmaster General John Potter at the U.S. Post Office at 1930 Wiley Boulevard SW.

Firefighters said Martin's actions prevented a fully-involved structure fire.

“What she did was monumental, by keeping the fire at bay until our troops arrived,” Fire Chief Stephen Reid said.

One of the tenants inside the apartment, Ashley O'Neal, had been cooking when a fire started on the stove, firefighters said. She got her two children outside about the same time Martin arrived.

Martin, a mail carrier for the past eight years, had been trained to use a fire extinguisher in a previous job. She said one of the tenants had tried to the extinguisher before she got there, but couldn't make it work.

“I just reacted,” Martin said. “Then I went about my day and delivered the rest of my mail.”

Rory Sullivan, station manager where Martin works, said heroic efforts are not uncommon for mail carriers. He remembered another recent example, where one of his mail carrier's witnessed a rollover accident and helped the occupants get out.

“It seems like every couple years, they'll save someone's life,” Sullivan said.

Martin has been nominated for the U.S. Postmaster General's award for bravery.