Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly named one of the firefighters. The firefighter’s correct name is Josh Shirk. We apologize for the error and are happy to correct it.

On a hot day in July, volunteer firefighter Jimmy Otis was on his way home from work when he received a phone call.

Forgetting the dinner waiting at home for him, Otis answered the call from the Edwardsburg Fire Department directing him to the home of a collapsed man. When he walked into the home, Otis found a man lying on the floor with no pulse. Otis took over and was soon joined by five other firefighters. Together, the team performed CPR on the collapsed man for nearly half an hour, helping to save the man’s life.

“By the time the paramedics came, he had a pulse,” Otis said.

For their efforts, the six firefighters, Tom Smith, Josh Shirk, Scott Northrop, Kevin Stack, Chad King and Otis were recently named Firefighters of the Year at an Oct. 25 ceremony. The award marks the second time in the history of the Edwardsburg Fire Department that the firefighter of the year award has been given for CPR work.

“We always look for someone outstanding, who stood out, who went above and beyond the call to name firefighter of the year,” said Edwardsburg Fire Chief Bruce Stack. “These men certainly did, the six men who answered the call. This year, they were the ones.”

The current firefighters of the year can still remember the day that earned them their award in vivid detail.

Otis can remember the sight of the collapsed man’s son leaning over his father’s body attempting CPR. Shirk can remember the heat from the hot tub in the room where they were administering CPR. Smith can even remember the moment that the man had regained his heartbeat.

“Things stick with you,” Otis said. “There was a lot of adrenaline running through our veins.”

Once they had all arrived on the scene that day, the team took turns giving the collapsed man CPR compressions for two-minute intervals.

“It was intense,” Shirk recalled. “By the two-minute mark you are feeling it. It’s a short, but intense exertion.”

The team continued these compressions for 22 minutes until an ambulance arrived on scene. Even then, the six men continued to aid the man.

“We were told that it is very rare for someone to come back after that long with hand-to-chest CPR,” Smith said. “It was everyone working together, us, EMS, the ER, the heart unit in Elkhart that saved his life. It’s not Baywatch; we can’t take credit for saving his life.”

The man went on to recover, and has come to thank Otis, Smith, Shirk, Northrop, Stack and King twice since the event, something Smith said he has not seen once in his 22 years as a volunteer firefighter.

“Because we are a rural, volunteer fire department, we have longer response times, and not always the equipment that a fully staffed fire department would,” Smith said. “So, sometimes, what we do doesn’t make the kind of difference that we would like it to. But this time it did. It’s reassuring to know we had a hand in that.”

The men said they appreciated the thank-you and the recognition from the fire department that they received in the form of the Firefighter of the Year award.

“It’s an absolute honor,” Northrop said of the award. “We were pretty surprised to receive it.”

Despite appreciating the honor, the six men said that they didn’t go into that man’s home on that July day hoping to win an award. They did it, they said, because they are committed to helping the people and to serving the department.

“This is just what we do. We don’t do this for the plaque or the notoriety,” Northrop said. “We do this for the brotherhood. We do this for the community.”

Chief Stacks said that the team’s humility was not uncommon, but that they, along with all volunteer firefighters, deserve recognition.

“They are all volunteers. This is a part-time job, and we ask a lot of them,” Stacks said. “They all so immense dedication. The time they commit is unreal. They aid this community, and should be recognized for that.”