FedEx driver helps family escape house fire during his delivery route

TEGA CAY, S.C. (WBTV) - A FedEx driver recently made his most important delivery of his career, and it wasn’t a package.

Rashad Conwell has been driving the same route in Tega Cay for the last six years. He says he has gotten to know the neighbors in Tega Cay well.

“The area is great. I know everybody by name. Most everybody by name. I know their kids their dogs, what kind of cars they drive,” Conwell said. “I’m very used to this area and they’re very used to me.”

On Tuesday, Conwell says he was delivering a package to a house on Kiwi Point, but he noticed the neighbor’s garage was on fire.

“My initial thought was get everybody out of the house because they’re always home, they’re always home,” Conwell said.

Conwell says he ran to the door and notified the woman who lived there that her garage was on fire and the flames were spreading quickly.

WBTV spoke with the woman who lives in the house. She did not want to do an interview about what happened, but said Conwell was the second person who notified her family that their house was on fire. She says she was grateful for everyone who spoke up.

Conwell says the woman, her grandson, and their dog ran out the front door with him. The woman’s husband escaped separately. No one was hurt.

“I’m glad I was able to be there at the right time,” Conwell said.

But Conwell’s day wasn’t over yet. He still had nearly an entire truck of packages to deliver but his truck was blocked by fire trucks.

“So we had to wheel the packages from my truck to another truck, then to two more trucks and I had to finish my route,” Conwell said.

Conwell says with the help of his FedEx team, they were able to get all packages delivered on time.

Tega Cay Fire Chief Glyn Hasty estimates there to be roughly $700,000 in damages from the house fire. The York County Deputy Fire Marshal says the cause of the fire is accidental.

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