Emotions ran high inside the halls of Silver Creek Township hall Wednesday, as the board of trustees honored several firefighters and ambulance personnel who saved a local woman’s life following a horrific car crash this past winter.

The township board passed a resolution honoring the first responders responsible for saving the life of Dowagiac’s Allison Hurry after the vehicle she was riding in crashed into several trees in Silver Creek Township during the early morning hours on Feb. 26. Recognized that evening were: Bryan Huggins, Robert Smith, Nick Baker and Bernard Herold, with the Indian Lake Fire Department; Bob and Justin Jones, with the Sister Lakes Fire Department; and Barbara Waite and Justin Shedd, with Pride Care Ambulance Service.

Crews with the fire departments were the first to arrive on scene of the crash around 3 a.m. that morning, though the ambulance, sheriff’s office and Pokagon Fire Department arrived shortly there after.

Sadly, the driver of the vehicle, Jordan White, as well as his and Hurry’s toddler son, Wyatt, had died before authorities arrived on scene. The firefighters extracted Hurry from the vehicle using the Jaws of Life, with ambulance crews treating her before crews with Med Flight airlifted the woman to South Bend Memorial Hospital.

Although the eight honorees were in the spotlight Wednesday evening, Huggins said that all 30 first-responders who pitched in during the accident that morning deserve praise.

“Everybody had an equal role in saving this life, including the dispatchers who took the 911 call and the people who called 911,” Huggins said. “This was a community, team effort on everyone’s part.”

Among those in the audience was Hurry’s mother, Angela Lister. The ceremony was an emotional experience for the Dowagiac woman, who wept while embracing the honorees following the award ceremony, thanking them for their courage that fateful February morning.

“They deserve to be recognized, not just for what did for my daughter but for everyone they have saved,” Lister said. “Because of them, I will be able to bring my daughter home some day.”

The last several months have been an extremely trying time for Lister and the rest of Hurry’s family. Lister said she could not even process the news when she was first told that her grandson had died and her daughter was in critical care. Even now, with four months gone by, she can still hardly believe what happened.

However, Lister is heartened by the progress her daughter has been making in recent weeks. This past Sunday, Hurry was able to stand up for the first time since the accident, and is trying to move more and more on her own without a wheel chair, Lister said. Lister is hoping to bring her daughter home from the hospital soon, she said.

Since the accident, the Dowagiac woman has sent a card to the firefighters responsible for saving her daughter’s life. She also brought a cake for the crews to Wednesday’s ceremony, though she said these small gestures do little to express how much she and her family appreciate them for their actions.

“They are all great people,” she said. “They do this without pay. They respond every time the bell in the firehouse goes off, without any agenda other than wanting to help others. They should be recognized for the work they do.”