Heroic mail carrier calls 911 after spotting Ann Arbor apartment on fire

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (FOX 2) - A mail carrier is being called a hero after he saw a home on fire in Ann Arbor and ran up to make sure if anyone was in need of help.

It was hardly a routine start to Cory Shaw-Hillman’s day as a mail carrier on Wednesday. While on his way to work, he noticed flames coming from one of the units at the Hillcrest Apartments on St Charles Drive.

"You could see flames as if in a like a bowl of flames on the porch there and I couldn’t see anybody up there," he said. "I was finishing my coffee, and I noticed that there was a fire on the porch."

Cory told FOX 2 he rushed over to the building to see if anyone was in danger.

"Start buzzing the buzzers, a little girl came down and I said, what apartment are you in? She let me in because I was wearing my uniform and it was the opposite apartment. Nobody was in the apartment where the fire was, and I called - he’s the father I assume. He said 'please call the police' so I called 911."

He says the fire department got there in no time to do their thing, as he showed them the way.

"I pointed to where it was - which porch it was and you could see flames dripping off of that porch and on to the lower porch."

Fire officials say it was a minor blaze and many were worried that it could have quickly spread to other areas. Cory is just glad he was in the right place at the right time.

"I couldn’t believe it was happening really. I’m not the type to find themselves in the middle of this type of situation," he said.

The incident is under investigation.