Valor award honors four Marion firefighters

DES MOINES - Four firefighters from Marion and a state trooper were presented the annual Sullivan Brothers' Award of Valor on Monday for heroic efforts in saving lives of Iowans.

Firefighters Jeff Hoover, Peter Lammer, Jeremy Smith and Zachary Bruce of the Marion Fire Department were presented the 2017 award by Gov. Kim Reynolds and Roxann Ryan, commissioner of the Iowa Department of Public Safety. Iowa State Trooper Dustin Henningsen also was honored at the Capitol ceremony.

'It's very seldom that firefighters and police officers get the recognition that they so deserve, and the effort they put into the rescue was phenomenal,” said Marion Fire Chief Deb Krebill, who nominated the four for the award named after five brothers from Waterloo who died together in World War II when their ship was sunk.

The firefighters were recognized for swift action on Dec. 8, 2016, to extricate a driver involved in a semi rollover crash along Highway 151.

The driver, Kostyantyn Knysh, 38, of Plainfield, Ill., was trapped in the cab and was almost completely submerged under nearly frozen water in 15-degree weather after the trailer truck went off the road and into a pond near Jordan's Grove Road.

'There is no doubt that these firefighters put their lives on the line that day,” Ryan told about 50 people who gathered in the Capitol rotunda to give the men a standing ovation. 'Their combined effort, determination, skill and willingness to not give up saved a man's life.”

According to a news release from the Linn County Sheriff's Office, at 10:51 a.m. that Thursday, officers responded to a report that a semi that had slid off the road into a pond. Deputies closed Highway 151 eastbound between Highway 13 and Stone Road and rerouted traffic.

Upon arrival, crews said they saw the semi off the road and under the water. Emergency responders removed Knysh through the roof of the truck, authorities said.

Krebill said it took the firefighters nearly an hour to rescue the driver in the frigid conditions.

'A lot of guys, once they were in there that long and they were absolutely exhausted, they would have gotten out and said: ‘OK, next crew go in,' but they didn't. They were going to stay there until it was done,” Krebill told reporters. 'They were freezing. They were exhausted and they did not give up and, as a fire chief, I could not be more proud.”

Trooper Dustin Henningsen was honored for rescuing a man trapped in a burning vehicle in a ditch in the Bettendorf area last February.

'What you've accomplished is truly exceptional,” Reynolds told the five award recipients. 'They were heroes in every sense of the word. Thank you for being a phenomenal example for all others to follow.”

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