Postal Worker Lauded For Dramatic Fire Rescue In Yorktown Heights

YORKTOWN HEIGHTS, NY — It started out like any other day for postal worker Christopher Perez, but then he saw smoke.

He had been delivering mail this past Friday when he first noticed the smoke. He initially thought someone was burning leaves, but then the smoke turned black. Perez hopped in his truck to get a closer look.

“That’s when I saw people running and panicking, and they said someone was still in the building,” Perez said.

Perez saw a man inside the Jefferson Village complex on Flintlock Way. The residential complex is geared toward residents age 55 and older.

The man was walking back and forth from his balcony and then back into an apartment. He appeared to not initially realize the severity of what was happening because of his vantage point, according to Perez.

“I could see flames from where I was standing,” Perez said. “I was gesturing to him and trying to tell him he needs to get out.”

Perez went around the building and saw 15 to 20 foot high flames near a door, and he realized the balcony was the man’s best chance of getting out safely.

Perez got his mail truck and parked it under the man’s balcony, then Perez climbed onto his truck and onto the balcony. According to Perez, the heat from the building was getting so bad it singed his beard.

“He was saying he had a bad ankle and hip,” Perez said. “I got him over the bannister to the top of the truck. People helped me get him down to the ground.”

Perez said he isn’t sure how he found the strength to get the man over the bannister, other than “pure adrenaline.”

“It was one of those moments - either fight or flight,” Perez said, “I couldn’t wait for help to arrive, and I didn’t know how much time he had. Thank God I had the strength.”

While others had gathered outside the building, they were older adults, some using canes, according to Perez.

“I realized nobody else there at the time would be able to help rescue him,” Perez said.

The 40-year-old from Carmel has been a mail carrier for just over four years.

Perez said he has no firefighting background, though he joked he did watch “Backdraft,” the 1991 action film.

Perez doesn’t personally know the 58-year-old man he rescued, though he had previously seen him during his mail rounds.

In the aftermath of the fire, Perez has been hailed as a hero.

“Kudos to the USPS Mail Courier for making one impressive rescue prior to FD arrival!” the Yorktown Heights Volunteer Fire Department said, on its Facebook page.

While Perez is happy he happened to be there at the right time, he called it “bittersweet,” because some people lost their homes in the fire.

“This was a place where these people wanted to live for the rest of their lives,” Perez said.

Fire officials were dispatched to the scene Friday at 2:34 p.m. for a report of smoke and fire coming from the complex, officials said. Firefighters doused the blaze and cleared the scene around 5 p.m.