U.S. Postal Service letter carrier Tim Martin and Hamburg resident Karen Karan describe how Martin was able to rescue her from the house when a car burst into flames into her driveway, starting the house on fire and sending thick black smoke inside.
Tim Martin had braved rain and heat and the gloom of night on his appointed rounds, delivering mail in Hamburg for years.
But on New Year’s Eve in 2022, he braved smoke and fire.
That fact brought Martin to the nation’s capital last week for a ceremony where the National Association of Letter Carriers named him Eastern Region Letter Carrier Hero of the Year.
And to hear Karen Karan tell it, he deserved the honor.
“He kind of, I’ll say, saved my life,” said Karan, 73. “He’s just a really nice, super guy.”
Given what happened that New Year’s Eve, it’s also safe to say he’s a brave one.
Letter carrier Tim Martin drives his mail truck on Monday. Martin was recently honored by the National Association of Letter Carriers for his heroism in helping a woman escape a fire that was threatening her home.
Martin said he was doing his rounds in Hamburg as usual that afternoon until he approached Karan’s home.
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“I came around the corner and there was this car and it was just fully engulfed in flames already” – and right in front of Karan’s home.
U.S. Postal Service mail carrier Tim Martin helped save the life of a woman who lived on his route when a vehicle parked next to her home caught fire on Dec. 31, 2022. He was delivering mail when he saw the flames. Neighbors were throwing snow on the car to put out the fire, but it spread to the front of the home. Martin pushed open a rear door and helped Karan escape.
A vehicle burns in the driveway by Karen Karan’s house in Hamburg on Dec. 31, 2022. U.S. Postal Service mail carrier Tim Martin helped save Karan’s life when he saw the flames while delivering mail. The fire spread to the front of the home. Martin pushed open a rear door and helped Karan escape.
A friend of Karan’s had just dropped off some groceries for her, and when he turned the ignition in his car in her driveway, it burst into flames. The man managed to escape, but his car was doomed. And at first, Martin said, it looked as if Karan’s home would be, too.
“There was a neighbor rushing over with a shovel and they were trying to shovel snow on to the car to get the fire out, but at that point, it was gonna take a lot more than that,” he said. “Plus, within a minute, the fire went from engulfed to raging. Things were popping, glass was exploding. It got dangerous. It was melting the siding of the house and catching that house on fire.”
Inside, Karan called 911, only to be met with confusion.
“The 911 operator thought somebody was shooting at me because the tires were blowing out, the gas tank blew up and you could hear the glass shattering,” Karan said. “I was trying to tell her no, my neighbor’s car is in my yard, and it’s on fire.”
Soon smoke started wafting into Karan’s home. Karan suffers from COPD – chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – and that made breathing in smoke even more dangerous for her.
Soon she heard someone at the back door. While neighbors were taking videos of the blaze out front, Martin had rushed to the rear of the house where there was no fire to try to rescue Karan, whom he knew from his rounds. Karan had tied her back door shut with a bungee cord to keep it from flying open in the winter winds, but Martin managed to squeeze into the house anyway and undo the bungee cord from the inside.
“The trailer was filling up with smoke and she was kind of disoriented, kind of like not knowing what to do,” Martin said.
U.S. Postal Service mail carrier Tim Martin helped save the life of a woman who lived on his route when a vehicle parked next to her home caught fire on Dec. 31, 2022. He was delivering mail when he saw the flames. Neighbors were throwing snow on the car to put out the fire, but it spread to the front of the home. Martin pushed open a rear door and helped Karan escape.
So Martin grabbed Karan’s shoes and her purse and handed them to her. He gathered up her dog, Lacey Mae, and told her they needed to leave immediately.
“I was starting to cough really bad,” Karan recalled. “And so Tim’s trying to yank me out the door and I’m like, I gotta wait a minute. You know, I can’t catch my breath.”
“And I was like: ‘Listen, honey: you can take a million breaks as soon as we get out the back door,’ “ Martin said.
Heeding that warning, and with the help of other neighbors, Karan and her Shih Tzu/Yorkie mix escaped. Martin guided Karan over to a huge rock in her neighbor’s yard, where she sat down.
Meanwhile, a crew from the Big Tree Volunteer Fire Department arrived. Martin quickly located an emergency medical technician and steered him over to Karan, who needed oxygen.
The fire crew doused the burning car and saved Karan’s home from destruction. The firefighters then opened all the windows and brought in a huge fan to blow out the smoke, but Karan’s home was left with about $2,800 in damage – and it would have been more if her son-in-law hadn’t used some spare siding from inside her garage to repair the front of her home.
What’s more, she’s no longer speaking with the former friend who brought her groceries that day, whose car went up in flames. His insurance company refused to pay for any of the damage, and so did he.
Facing those repair costs, “I went into depression, because I live on Social Security, which I only get a little over $800 a month, which makes it very hard to live,” Karan said.
Karan is in better shape now, and so is her home. She said one good thing came out of the incident.
“I got to know my mailman better,” she said.
U.S. Postal Service mail carrier Tim Martin helped save the life of a woman who lived on his route when a vehicle parked next to her home caught fire on Dec. 31, 2022. He was delivering mail when he saw the flames. Neighbors were throwing snow on the car to put out the fire, but it spread to the front of the home. Martin pushed open a rear door and helped Karan escape.
So did the leadership of the National Association of Letter Carriers, who honored a number of heroes like Martin at its Washington ceremony.
“We are immensely proud of what the heroes being recognized did,” union President Brian L. Renfroe said. “They represent our country’s best in public service. They truly are our heroes.”
Martin, 43, didn’t set out to be a hero. He said he moved to Lake View in 2011 after meeting a local woman whom he eventually married. Looking for a career change after years as a chef, Martin joined the Postal Service in 2015.
“I gave it a shot and ended up getting hired and ended up finding out that it’s the job for me,” he said. “I love the job. I love the community, I love the office that I got hired at, which is close to home. I love the carriers, the supervisors, everything about the office. I love going to work each day.”
And Martin’s supervisor, Jim Neyman, seems to have some strong feelings for him, too. To honor Martin’s actions on that New Year’s Eve 15 months ago, Neyman made Martin a superhero cape and even coined a slogan for him that goes beyond delivering the mail through snow and rain and heat and the dark of night.
Martin’s new, personal motto?
“I deliver bills and save lives.”