MUSCLE SHOALS, Ala. — Terminix sales professionals Craig Bush and Jennifer Medina helped save an elderly couple from a house fire in March.

Bush and Medina had just arrived at the home of a potential customer when they noticed smoke coming from a nearby house. After banging on the door until they received a response, Bush informed the homeowner, Linda Brackin, that her house was on fire and that she and her husband needed to evacuate immediately. She was in panic mode because her husband, George Brackin, who was very ill and on an IV, was upstairs in bed. 

Bush said he considered carrying George Brackin down the stairs, “but he was a very frail gentleman, so I didn’t want to risk injuring him. I was able to get him up and he was able to walk under his own power. I gave him some encouragement to pick up the pace. As the smoke thickened it got close to the point of me picking him up, but fortunately it didn’t come to that.”

Meanwhile, Medina stayed downstairs, called 911 and calmed Linda Brackin. “She was not in a good state of mind. She wanted to go back upstairs and get his medicine, so I had to calm her and restrain her from going back upstairs,” Medina said.

Glenn Wilson, branch manager, Terminix, Muscle Shoals, Ala., said he was proud of Bush and Medina’s actions. “Not only were they at the right place at the right time, but they acted the way they were supposed to act,” he said.

Bush said he thinks the whole episode was a divine intervention. “The interesting part to me is that the [prospective customer] at the house we initially went to visit, ultimately told us that she didn’t know why she called us in the first place. She wasn’t really interested (in pest control). Some folks might call that coincidence, but I think the Lord was looking over these people.” — Brad Harbison

Photo courtesy of Glenn Wilson