Waste management truck driver puts out fire, saves woman and dog

A waste management driver saw smoke, and then flames, coming from a home.

Eunice Warman is more than just a trash collector. She drives a truck and estimates the cost of pickup. But this weekend, she became a hero when she was able to save a woman and her dog from their burning home.

Warman is the customer service coordinator for Waste Management. “I was scared. You know, but it was adrenaline. I don’t even it was happening so fast,” said Warman.

Warman says she was in the process of leaving a job when she saw smoke rising from a property. She found smoldering mulch outside and flames burning the home’s siding. “I’d already had the fire extinguisher out of my pickup truck,” said Warman. “I had grabbed that and went up to the house and did that exact thing and actually put the fire out.”

Anthony Schepp lived in the Rotonda West home that burned. “God bless her for being at the right place at the right time,” Schepp said.

Inside the home were an 80-year-old woman and her chihuahua. Their roommate, Anthony Schepp, wasn’t home when the fire started. He had just left the home.

“There was an iguana in the storm drain. And I didn’t know how to get them out since I can’t put my hand up there. So I decided to smoke it out,” said Schepp.

The woman told Englewood firefighters that it was the ignited sage stick that sparked the fire. It came into contact with a can of paint outside.

Warman gives credit to her proper training for being able to respond quickly. “We do more than garbage. We help with anything that we could possibly do,” said Warman.

Schepp credits Warman for saving his roommate’s life.

Wednesday will mark Warman’s 14th anniversary with Waste Manangement. She will be able to celebrate her quick thinking as she ensured that no one was hurt in that fire.