Milledgeville woman meets first responders who helped her in fire

MILLEDGEVILLE, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – So far this year, 36 people in Georgia have died in a house fire. A Milledgeville woman is counting her blessings and thanking her security service she’s not part of that statistic.

In the middle of the night on January 1st, a loud popping woke Dorothy Brown up.

“I got up and walked through the house and didn’t find anything,” said Brown. “So I just went back to bed.”

Thinking they were fireworks from people celebrating the new year, Brown ignored it. Until she heard her security alarm.

“I started out, but I went back and got my little gun,” said Brown. I wasn’t going to hurt anybody, but I didn’t know what was going on.

Then the phone rang. It was Tiffany Schantaca, an emergency dispatch operator with ADT, from Dallas, Texas.

“I mean you just go to work, and you’re prepared to answer like 200 plus calls a day,” said Schantaca.

“She called me back and asked me if the fire trucks had gotten there and that’s when I realized it was a fire,” said Brown.

Two minutes later, Baldwin County firefighter, Deryl Nelson showed up.

“After she opened the door, that was a blessing,” said Nelson. “Right now, out of my career, I’ve seen some that didn’t make it.”

Nelson says it was a sigh of relief to see Brown. He acted quickly and put out the fire that started in the air conditioning unit.

Thanks to a reliable security service, Brown did.

“If I had not had the system, I would have probably died from suffocation,” said Brown.

Brown got to thank her heroes and ADT thanked the Baldwin County Fire Rescue, with a five thousand dollar check for their quick response.

“I just praise them as much, but I know the Lord was looking over me also,” said Brown.