Austin firefighters responds to meaningful thank you letter sent by tourist

Firefighters rescue cell phone for tourist

Last month, a team of Austin firefighters responded to a 911 call about a tourist who dropped his cell phone down a storm drain.

AUSTIN, Texas - No task is too big or too small for Austin firefighters.

In late January, the 'A' shift finished responding to an incident downtown when they received a public assistance call. Instead of rescuing a person the team was tasked with rescuing a man's cell phone from a storm drain.

"It's not your typical emergency but for that gentleman, it was an emergency for his life, he's from out of state he had his travel itinerary on his phone, his plane ticket everything was right there," said Lt. David Spidle. "Without it he probably would've been lost."

Spidle's team jumped into action and Christy Harms a newer member decided she was going to be first to head straight into the maintenance hole. "You should be the first to volunteer in any situation with this job," Harms chuckled. "I was like hey guys I just need another foot, help me get done there just a little bit further and I never questioned that they wouldn't immediately grab a hold of me and help me out and they would also get me out of there quickly."

The man who's phone was rescued was so grateful he wrote a letter to the city. In it, he wrote, "I think you just have a lot of great people in Austin who really care."

"I feel like this gentleman went above and beyond to email the city," Harms said. "The pictures were a little embarrassing but the genuineness of the email the man had sent, that really made the whole call."

Lieutenant Spidle beamed with pride for his team saying they answer a variety of emergencies sometimes dangerous. In August, Austin firefighters battled flames outside of a home on Hamilton Avenue, inside Spidle's team members searched for victims inside. Firefighter Buck Johnson located a man on the ground in need of help and radioed in Harms. Spidle said Harrms grabbed the guy and pulled him out to safety.

"She is the type of firefighter that can just be an example to all of those younger ones coming up this is the kind of person you want to be like," Spidle said.“I think every single person that comes into this job realizes that it’s a service profession and that’s what we are here for, we emphasize with people what would we want to be done if we were in that position and I think these guys embody that spirit and try to do as often as possible.”