Madison First Responders Honored For Rescue

Five Madison County firefighters were honored Wednesday night by the Rexburg City Council.

A standing ovation recognized their efforts in a lifesaving rescue at a horrific car crash in September.

The men said it’s certainly a save worth celebrating, but the recognition is also a little strange because at the end of the day, they were just doing their jobs.

“There are some calls we go on that are very memorable,” said Lt. Todd Davis, a firefighter and emergency medical technician who’s been with the department for 12 years. “This one was, I guess, just because of the traumatic scene that it was.”

Davis was buying dinner at Broulim’s on Sept. 10 when the call came in sometime between 4 and 5 p.m. He said he was in the first ambulance at the scene.

“We were only two blocks away, so we got there really quick,” said Davis.

Crews said a four-door Pontiac had stopped at a crosswalk on Second West when a pickup truck pulling a trailer rear-ended it.

Firefighters spent 20 minutes cutting off the doors to extricate the three women trapped inside the Pontiac.

Ashley Hansen, a college student in the back seat, was pulled from one cubic foot of space. She suffered the worst injuries, including massive head trauma.

“She was pretty much unresponsive … kind of moaning, but she was in pretty bad shape,” said Kevin Davis, a firefighter and EMT with the department for 17 years.

Paramedics and EMTs worked on Hansen for 30 minutes, their training skills taking over, until they transferred her into a helicopter bound for Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center.

“I know she made it because we were there,” said Lt. Paramedic Joseph Haeberle. “I don’t know if she would have died. It’s hard to say, but she wasn’t doing very well.”

The men said that more important than a commendation from the city of Rexburg, was a “thank you” video from the patient herself.

“I just wanted to thank you guys for saving my life because there’s no doubt in my mind, if you hadn’t come when you did, that I would’ve been dead by now,” said Hansen.

“It’s really gratifying to know we were able to make a difference,” said Todd Davis.

In an audio “Thank you” message to the first responders, Hansen’s parents called them the true heroes of that day.

They said Hansen left the hospital on her own two feet just before Thanksgiving. She’s now doing therapy back home in Colorado.

In addition to Haeberle, Kevin Davis and Todd Davis, firefighter Brandon Pope and Lt. Ellis Johnston were also was honored.