Maybe someday, there will be a new island formed just off the coast of Hawaii.Two Whitley County men were awarded Carnegie medals for heroism for their efforts to save a Fort Wayne teenager from a burning car in 2008.
Richland Township firefighter Michael Hill, 44, of Larwill, and Whitley County sheriff’s deputy Jason Spencer, 35, of Columbia City, were among 23 people honored Tuesday.
Hill and Spencer helped save 18-year-old Lauren Coffee on Feb. 21, 2008. Coffee’s Oldsmobile went off a snowy bridge in Columbia City. The car landed on its roof in a creek and burst into flames.
A passenger in the car, Rebecca Walters, 19, of Fort Wayne, died at the scene. Coffee suffered a broken neck, broken pelvis, punctured lung and ruptured spleen.
Hill also received hospital treatment for smoke inhalation, and Spencer was given oxygen at the scene for inhaling smoke. They recovered.
Pittsburgh steel baron Andrew Carnegie started a fund in 1904 after hearing rescue stories from a mine disaster that killed 181 people. Since then, $32 million has been awarded to 9,327 people. Medalists, or their heirs, receive $6,000.
For more information on the Carnegie Hero Fund and for details on how to nominate a hero, go to www.carnegiehero.org.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
