St. Jacob firefighters honored for rescuing kids from a flooded creek

Three members of the St. Jacob Fire Department were recently rewarded for their heroic actions on the night of Aug. 12.

Capt. Justin Skaggs and firefighters Dan Cronovich and Tanner Carson rescued two children who had been caught in a flood current while swimming in Silver Creek.

According to a press release from the department, at 7:27 that evening, the department was dispatched to Little Silver Creek, which had flooded at Marine Road. When the firefighters arrived, they were told that the two young people were swimming in the flood water. Marine Fire Department was then dispatched with their boat to assist.

The victims could not be seen from the shore, the release stated, but their cries for help could be heard from downstream. Knowing time was of the essence and they could not wait for Marine’s boat, St. Jacob’s small inflatable life boat was deployed.

Skaggs, Cronovich and Carson entered the current and proceeded downstream toward the children, who were both found clinging to a tree in the water.

“Those guys just hopped in the boat and did what they had to do and did a very professional job,” St. Jacob Fire Chief Nic Klaus said.

After safely being secured in the inflatable, all five were pulled back upstream to shore. The swimmers were transported to the hospital and treated for hypothermia and released the next day, according to the fire department.

As a result of their heroic actions, Skaggs, Cronovich and Carson were awarded the Medal of Valor at the the department’s annual appreciation dinner Feb. 8 at the community hall in St. Jacob.

“It could have been a very bad situation,” Klaus said. “My initial thought was, ‘oh my gosh we’re going to have to do a recovery.’ They risked their lives to save the others. It was pretty cool.”

Klaus noted the magnitude of being awarded the Medal of Valor.

“The Medal of Valor is one of the highest honors you can get,” he said. “It pretty much states I’ve risked my life to save somebody else’s. In this case it worked out and they saved the victims’ lives. I’m proud of what they did. Words can’t describe it.”

Because of their heroics and upon Klaus’ recommendation and with the full approval of the St. Jacob Board of Trustees, the following citation was made Feb. 8: “Due to their outstanding bravery, total disregard of the own personal safety where by their saved two young victims from certain harm.”

This story was originally published February 13, 2020 at 11:23 AM.