On Nov. 12, Newark Line Servicer Rick Creager was driving to work like usual. A little past 6 a.m. he turned onto Main Street in Alexandria and saw something decidedly unusual: a fire burning on the porch of one of the homes lining the street.
Creager immediately pulled to the side of the road and removed a fire extinguisher from the back of this truck. A small stack of firewood in the corner of the front porch was burning a hole into the wooden floor, but he was able to quickly douse the flames and put out the fire.
Creager says he’s dealt with plenty of pole fires during his 10-year career so he was able to handle the situation in stride.
“I was shocked and surprised more than anything. I definitely didn’t expect to see anything like that on the way to work.”
Creager had to knock multiple times before the homeowner – an AEP Ohio customer – came to the door. He had no idea what had just occurred on his front porch nor how it might have started.
“Oh he was definitely fast asleep,” Creager says with a chuckle. “When he first came to the door he was a little dazed. But then I told him his house was on fire and that kind of woke him up.”
While the experienced line servicer is able to laugh off the event casually, his manager Jim Grimm, Distribution System Supervisor in Newark, sees it a little differently.
“Rick was aware of his surroundings and was willing to jump in and get things under control,” Grimm says. “I’m sure that if not for him acting quickly there would have been a much different outcome.”
