Blake Hall
It’s easy to zone out on your commute home from work. It’s been a long day, you’re tired — maybe a little hungry? — and there’s never a shortage of things running through your brain which can so easily lull you into a daze.
It’s how a lot of people operate during this extremely mundane, everyday American occurrence.
Safe to say, however, that one family in St. Stephens, South Carolina is thanking their lucky stars and stripes that Air Force Tech Sgt. Jeffrey Landis of the 315th Maintenance Squadron is not one of these run-of-the-mill, daydream-on-your-commute-home people.
If he was, the roof over their heads today might not be so comfortable.
It all started, as you may have guessed, as the reserve airman drove home from Joint Base Charleston one day and passed through a sleepy southern town. The first thing he recalls is looking up to check out what the gas prices had jumped to. The second thing is the vision of a red house across the street from the gas pumps with a modest garage adjacent to it. And the third thing?
Flames sprouting from the top of the garage’s door.
Without hesitation, Landis parked his car, ran across the street and started beating on the windows of the home in peril to make sure no one was inside. When he received no response, he decided to enter the house only to find a woman and two kids at her feet in the kitchen. While they were obviously startled to see a strange man just waltz right into their home, this fear was quickly replaced with a whole new one when he told them what was going on.
When the reality set in, Landis escorted them from the burning building and called “911” when they reached a safe distance away from the flames.
The family was out of harm’s way and help was on its way. But the airman wasn’t done yet.
When the firefighters arrived he helped them drag their hoses from the hydrant to the scene so that they could extinguish the flames as soon as possible.
In the wake of the rescue, Landis has been recognized by more than a few local groups, his flight chief at work and even — believe it or not — the Harlem Globetrotters.
But he can’t go along with all of the praise and fuss. To him, he was simply doing what needed to be done, and what he was taught to do.
“If you see something wrong or not being done correctly, it’s your job as a [noncommissioned officer] to correct the situation,” he said.