Arlington Heights letter carrier who warned neighbors before garbage truck explosion gets national hero award

Rafael Pozo was on his daily Arlington Heights mail route during the late afternoon of Dec. 6, 2024, when he noticed a garbage truck that was smoking.

Flames soon started shooting 15 feet from the top of the vehicle, while the truck’s driver — armed only with an onboard extinguisher — struggled to put them out.

Pozo called 911, then warned students being dismissed from nearby Windsor Elementary School to stay away. He also came upon a neighbor just returning from work, but told her not to go home — where the truck was burning in front.

Minutes after firefighters arrived, the truck exploded, sending shrapnel through that neighbor’s front window and drywall, and strewing other debris several blocks away.

Pozo has already been called a hero by neighbors of the 500 block of Derbyshire Avenue, but now he formally has that title on a national scale.

The 13-year letter carrier from the Arlington Heights post office was in Washington, D.C. this week to accept the Vigilant Award at the National Association of Letter Carriers’ annual Heroes of the Year luncheon.

“I was very fortunate — right place, right time — and I was able to help those people in that moment,” Pozo said.

Video of the explosion went viral online and made international news. Two police officers and one firefighter were injured, but not seriously. And months after the blast, residents with boarded up windows and cracked walls and ceilings were still battling insurance to get home repair costs covered.

An Arlington Heights Fire Department investigation found the Groot garbage truck experienced mechanical failures — unable to dump its load or activate any of 10 pressure relief devices that would have emptied the vehicle’s five compressed natural gas fuel containers. Officials attributed the fire and blast to a lithium ion battery collected during recycling pickup.

Six months to the day, Pozo was back on his route in practically the same spot when another garbage truck caught fire. Hundreds of kids were outside Windsor school for a field day when Pozo warned them to get inside, and called 911.

This time, the truck’s driver was able to dump the burning contents on the street and firefighters put the fire out.

Pozo was among nine letter carriers from across the country recognized at the awards ceremony Wednesday at the Capital Hilton.

Brian Renfroe, president of the labor union representing the postal employees, said Pozo and the others deliver not only the mail, but “courage, astute thinking and care.”

“Their actions remind us that heroes are often right in our own neighborhoods,” Renfroe said.