Socastee postal worker honored after pulling woman to safety, construction workers nominated for award

Andrew Federovitch doesn’t think he’s a hero.

But, the U.S. Postmaster General feels differently.

Federovitch, originally from Long Island, N.Y., has worked for the postal service for four and a half years. On Dec. 20, he helped a woman out of her car after she had driven into a tree. He’s received the “hero recognition” from the postmaster general for his actions that day.

“One post office paper made it sound like I was a hero,” he said. “I’m not a hero. My son (Joseph Philbin) is a sergeant in the army and served in Iraq with the 82nd Airborne. I think that’s a hero. I was just there and if it happened to somebody in my family, I’d hope (somebody) would do the same for me.”

Harry Spratlin, spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service, said 239 of its workers across the nation were awarded the honor in 2010.

Often, he said, those hero awards are given to a mail carrier who notices a buildup of mail and checks on the person, who is typically elderly, to find they have died.

“When they see somebody that gets trapped in a car, that doesn’t happen very often,” Spratlin said. “This was not an ordinary day at the office.”

Federovitch is one of three area people recognized recently for their efforts that helped others in trouble.

The rescue

Federovitch works a rural route in the Socastee area and was on S.C. 814 in December delivering a certified letter to a customer. It was just days before Christmas.

“I was standing there by a cluster box with a customer,” he said. “We saw this car go flying by and go around the bend. Right after that we heard a crash.”

Federovitch moved into the street so he could see what happened. A short distance away, the car had hit a tree and turned onto its side in a ditch. He called 911 as he ran to the car. He found her door pinned to the tree, and the passenger door turned downward into the ditch.

“I didn’t really know what to do because I couldn’t get into the door,” he said. “I went to the back windshield and kicked it with my foot. The first time nothing happened, the second time I kicked it, it broke. I pulled her out, she had blood coming out of her mouth and I brought her to the side. I didn’t know if the car was going to catch fire or what.”

The customer he was with when the car sped by came over and tried to settle the injured woman until the ambulance arrived.

“I waited until the rescue came and they came pretty quick,” Federovitch said. “I didn’t wait around for the police because it was Christmas week. I had so many packages, I was so behind. I had to leave after the ambulance came. I had to go.”

He simply went on with his day, and didn’t think much about the incident. His uncle, Joseph Matragiano, came to visit just after the incident. He’s the one who made sure his nephew’s actions didn’t stay quiet.

Federovitch never learned the woman’s name, or her condition.

“I’m just a mailman,” he said. “I just deliver the mail. My son, he’s the hero. He fought in Iraq.”

Still, Federovitch thinks his customer, who was not identified, deserves more recognition for that day.

“She’s the one that consoled her and took care of her until the rescue got there,” Federovitch said. “Not me.”

Spratlin said Federovitch can at least say with certainty that he will help a neighbor if needed.

“I think all of us, we hear and see things like this all the time, but in our hearts we wonder, ‘Would I do that? If I were faced with that would I measure up to that test?’” he said. “Andrew does not have to answer that question anymore because he’s done it.”

Before the accident, Federovitch said, he didn’t know if he would have rushed to help. That day, however, he said he didn’t hesitate.

Deerfield Plantation fire heroes

Two local construction workers have been nominated for the Carnegie Medal, awarded by the Carnegie Hero Fund based in Pittsburgh, Pa.

Chris Tindall and Jake Lugin, with OTD Inc., helped an elderly woman out of her house on Plantation Drive in the Deerfield Neighborhood when it caught fire on Dec. 2 last year.

The two contractors were across the street giving a neighbor an estimate on home repairs. Then, Tindall said, he looked out the front door and saw the fire. The neighbor said there was an elderly lady in that home, so the two rushed over with Tindall calling the emergency line on his way.

“I ran through the front door,” Tindall said. “The lady was standing in the middle of the house. At the time, the smoke was getting thick in the house. She couldn’t get out of the front door because she had a walker.”

The fire started after Genevieve Durham had thrown a personal heating device into a garbage bin in her garage, sparking the blaze.

Tindall met Lugin, who had entered from the back window, in the middle of the house.

“She had a deadbolt on the back door that used a key to open both sides,” Tindall said. “There was no way we were going to get the lady out through the window.”

Tindall said there was a ceramic figure on the windowsill next to the door. When he knocked it off, he found the key to the door, but then heard the tires on the car explode. He said it sounded like shotguns being fired.

“I just scooped her up and started to run out of the house,” Tindall said. “She was worried I was going to drop her. I guess I should have let Jake take her, he’s bigger than me.”

Lugin tried to go back inside for the woman’s cat, but there were more loud pops as the car started to explode.

Waiting for a win

Jeffrey Dooley investigates the people nominated for the Carnegie Medal. He said they are in the early stages of researching the rescue made by Tindall and Lugin. The process could take a few months. Then, the Carnegie Hero Fund board will choose the nominees who will earn the medal.

Tindall said he’s satisfied with the nomination.

“I’ve never had anything like this happen for me,” he said. “I framed the article and I told my mom and dad about the nomination, but I told them I probably wouldn’t get it.”

It hasn’t affected his business, located in Murrells inlet, either, but he said family members have been calling to show their pride.

“I’m so excited just to be nominated,” he said. “It’s so farfetched I’m sure there are a lot more people who did more heroic things than we did.”

The Carnegie Medal is awarded four times a year following each board meeting. Dooley said Tindal and Lugin won’t necessarily be voted on at the next board meeting because it depends on how long the research in the incident takes.