By Cade Fowler - bio | email
LEE COUNTY, GA (WALB) – It was not a normal Wednesday afternoon for Direct TV technician Travis Davis.
"I was driving down the road going to my next call, and a gentleman from Dish Network flagged me down on the road," he said.
That's right. Dish Network. Technician Gino Williams was working outside 68-year-old Betty Pitree's North Philema Road home when it caught fire. He quickly jumped into action, trying to rescue the disabled woman in need of help.
"I was sitting in a chair and I couldn't move because I have Pariknsons," said a tearful Pitree.
She was in her wheel chair, helpless, as smoke and flames began filling her mobile home.
"The cable man, he got me and started running with me and I fell."
With little time to spare, Williams needed help. That's when he saw the competition driving down the road. But it didn't matter. This time the job was different. A life was on the line.
"It was full of smoke. You couldn't see anything. She was just yelling for help. Crying and screaming. We went in and got her," said Davis.
"They got me outside on the ramp. Then they got me up where they could get me out here in the yard," said Pitree.
Just seconds later, the house became engulfed in flames.
"We had heavy smoke and fire showing at the rear of the house. We made an interior attack with an inch and three quarters hose and went ahead and knocked it down," said Lee County Fire Lt. Coleman Williams.
The home her parents bought her years ago is now a complete loss. Her possessions are gone. But what Miss Pitree has is her life.
"I didn't know if I was going to live or not. But thank God, I'm here," she said.
Firefighters believes a candle started the fast spreading fire. And while Pitree was not seriously hurt, she was taken to a hospital to be checked out.
As for the two satellite technicians - were they guardian angels? Perhaps heroes going above and beyond the call of duty?
"Not really," said a smiling Davis. "Just doing what comes naturally."
No title necessary. Just two competitors coming together to save a life.
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