Shrewsbury mail carrier helps extinguish fire at home on his route
SHREWSBURY - A Shrewsbury mail carrier is being hailed a hero after helping extinguish a fire at a home on his route Thursday morning. "I tried to be calm and to do the job," said mail carrier Pjerin Kita.
That job probably saved lives at the home on Bruce Avenue when he saw smoke and vinyl siding on fire. With flames also coming from a recycling bin that started it all, he sprang into action to move the barrel, hearing calls for help from sisters Sharon and Cheryl Collaro inside.
"Please help, there's a fire, there's a fire," Kita says he heard.
"He saved our lives"
"He picked it up with his two hands," said Sharon Collaro. "Flames were coming out of everywhere and he threw it in the backyard. He saved our lives."
The bin was right against the house with flames spreading quickly. Firefighters are still not sure what ignited the blaze. "The smell of smoke started coming, the plastic burning, I can still taste it in my throat. It was the scariest thing I've been through in my life," said Collaro.
Before firefighters even arrived, Pjerin Kita was able to pour water on the bin from an outside bucket fortunately filled with rainwater and stop the spread. Firefighters then tackled the still smoldering siding. "I don't feel it was anything special, I feel like I had to do it. Nobody was around, two sisters were looking for help," said Kita.
Firefighters credit Kita for stopping fire
But Shrewsbury Fire Chief Seth Colby gives him all the credit especially with conditions so windy. "In this day and age, it's easy to look the other way and not get involved. It was great he stepped up and was in the right place at the right time," Colby said.
Firefighters said without Kita's help, the damage would have been far greater, and the occupants would have been displaced.
The sisters say they have a gift for Kita on his next delivery, but he refuses to be called a hero. "I just did what I was supposed to do," he said.
It was more than just a day's work for the quick-thinking mail carrier.
