Mail carrier Kurt Spaller spotted a fire at Town Apartments North and helped residents escape a burning building.
By ANNE LINDBERG
Published August 24, 2003
LEALMAN - Kurt Spaller was delivering mail at Town Apartments North one Saturday in June when he saw smoke pouring from one of the buildings.
"When the wind picked up, it blew a fireball right over that house and (it) lit up like a Roman candle. I never saw anything like it," Spaller remembered days after the fire. "I just saw a whole bunch of fire rolling out of the building." Later, he would say he "thought a bolt of lightning hit the building."
Spaller raced into the Nautilus building and began banging on doors, helping the mostly elderly people - some on oxygen - down stairs through the heavy black smoke.
As firefighters battled the blaze, which destroyed the 54-unit, three-story building, Spaller went home to clean up. The Red Cross called. In the chaos, it was impossible to determine if any residents were missing and might still be in the burning building.
Spaller, 36, returned from his home in southern St. Petersburg. He told emergency workers which residents he had seen since the fire. And, even more, he was able to tell them which had returned north for the summer or gone on vacation, meaning they were safely out of the building.
"I knew exactly who was where and who was doing what, pretty much," he said.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Postmaster General honored Spaller for his heroism. The plaque was one of seven he has received since June 21. Residents of Town Apartments North also honored him for his efforts.
"It was just what anyone else would have done," Spaller said. "It would have been a crime against humanity to just sit back and watch."
Besides, Spaller said, others were there and helped alert folks in the Nautilus building.
James Jordan, the stepson of Town Apartments resident Bill Okerlund, and his girlfriend, Carlie, were there and received no credit, Spaller said.
"They didn't get any recognition at all. I feel bad for them," he said.
The honor from the postmaster general came two days before Spaller, who was a yearlong fill-in for the regular mail carrier, was due to leave the route.
Town Apartments residents lobbied to keep him, but postal officials told them that Spaller did not have enough seniority to stay on the route, said Susan Shearer, a resident of the Oasis building.
Shearer, like others in the condominium complex, spent part of Friday running after Spaller to hug him and wish him well.
"We're all stalking him," Shearer said. "I just wanted to come and make sure I say goodbye."
For his part, Spaller left each one a goodbye note with pictures of himself and his son. The note said:
"Thank you for all you've done this last year. It's been my pleasure to serve you. Take care of yourself and Godspeed."
He also reassured Shearer that she'd be seeing him. His mother lives in Town Apartments.
"Oh, yeah, I'll be visiting," he said. "That's my momma's house. I gotta go to my momma's."
