Mail carrier saves woman from fire, completes her deliveries

When a mail carrier realized an 80-year-old woman was inside a burning house, she didn’t hesitate to rush inside to help.

“It was something instinctive,” Jackie Jefferson said. “I wasn’t thinking. I puffed up my nerves and did it. I can’t believe it happened.”

Jefferson’s actions got the wheelchair-bound woman out of her . Then, true to her postal duties, Jefferson resumed walking her mail delivery route.

Jefferson was gone by the time Indianapolis firefighters arrived. She didn’t return until well after the fire was out and the woman she had rescued had been taken to Methodist Hospital.

Jefferson, 36, has been delivering mail only a few months. Based out of the Brightwood branch post office, she’s been filling in on others’ delivery routes.

I ran over to the house, and the lady is usually in the living room,” said Jefferson. “I grabbed ahold of the wheelchair and tried to push her as far as I could.” She got the woman out of the burning house.

“And then the flames started to come out of the door,” Jefferson said. “I’m glad I was in the right place at the right time.”

Read more: Mail carrier saves woman from Near-Northside fire, completes her rounds