For the first time on Saturday morning, Beth Lahtela met the construction worker who helped save her life five months ago.
She sat in her wheelchair at the front of the First Baptist Church of Fort Lauderdale as she watched Hugo Toro cross the stage to take his award, the Certificate of Heroism, from Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue for his quick action early in the morning on Nov. 30 when he witnessed Lahtela pinned beneath a car near Fort Lauderdale's beach. He and several of his fellow construction workers who had been nearby mustered the collective strength to free Lahtela from underneath the car.
The call was one of several that were lauded during Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue's annual Medals Day award ceremony at the church in downtown. Nearly 400 people attended, including fire rescue personnel of all ranks, their families and some of the everyday people like Toro who recently helped in saving a life. Dozens of fire rescue personnel and four civilians were honored with awards.
"I would have been dead without them helping me," Lahtela told reporters after the ceremony. "We wouldn't be here talking about this. They could have gotten hurt themselves, but they sprang into action and helped."
Lahtela was walking near the beach about 6:30 a.m., as she did most mornings for many years to see the sunrise, when two cars crashed behind her. One driver pulled in front of a speeding car, causing the collision and forcing the speeding car to roll over on top of her, Lahtela said.
"It's the kind of thing that, two cars crashing behind you and one of them rolling on top of you -- you can't recreate if you tried," she said.
Toro was among a group of about a dozen people who pushed and lifted as hard as they could, an officer's body-worn camera video showed.
"Don't give up! Don't give up!" one man shouted as the group grunted and pushed.
About a minute into the officer's body-camera video, Toro and the others had managed to lift the car high enough for a first responder to pull Lahtela away, who was then lying motionless, before the group slowly lowered it back down to the ground.
Toro recalled seeing someone's leg the moment after the crash and screamed, he told reporters in Spanish. It was he who suggested they act.
"When she moved, I screamed. I mean, she's alive," Toro said. "So I started to shake the people and the few of us who were there, we got closer and the police officer who was there told us, 'Help us,' ... and we managed to get her out."
Lahtela went home from the hospitals and rehabilitation centers just three weeks ago, she said. She still has one surgery yet to be done, but she's able to walk using a cane and with help from a physical therapist.
"Slowly but surely," her progress is underway, she said. "It's a journey. When people ask you, 'How are you feeling?' Well, I don't have a cold. I don't have the flu. It's a journey."
Meeting Toro and some of the first responders on Saturday morning, all Lahtela could do was thank them.
"It was a miracle that they were there to help, a miracle that they did," she said. "And God was looking out for me."
Two other good Samaritans and three fire department personnel were honored for their action on another call a few days earlier, when a woman was hanging over a rail and threatening to jump from the Davie Boulevard overpass on Interstate 95.
Citizens Jacob Dunbar and Baylee Davidson were holding onto her when fire crews arrived. Lt. Timothy Dunn quickly wrapped a line around her legs and waist to prevent her from falling, and Driver Engineers John Jones and Vincent Pangallo positioned a ladder truck below the overpass. Pangallo, wearing a harness, went over the railing and took the woman down.
Chief Stephen Gollan called the good Samaritans who were honored on Saturday "the true heroes."
"We train thousands and thousands of hours to do our job, and you did it because there was a calling right then and there," Gollan said. "And you saved a life."
Silver Medals of Valor were awarded to Capts. Matthew Adams and Tamara Rose, Lt. David Allison, Driver Engineer Alexander Pritchard and Firefighter James Paszkiewics for their rescue of a woman and her husband from their burning home in Wilton Manors last month. Charles Bloch, the father of a Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue captain, died after he was pulled from the home.
Battalion Chief Johnny Robinson, Capt. Carlos Coello, Driver Enginer Leighton Green and Firefighters Samuel Ramirez, Bryan Whitehead and Edgar Vega were honored with the Dr. El Sanadi EMS Excellence award for their Feb. 7 rescue of a young boy who was found floating in a swimming pool in Wilton Manors. Days later, the boy was released from the hospital without any significant injuries.
At the end of the ceremony, 26 firefighters were promoted to the rank of lieutenant as the result of the fire department receiving an $11 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response, SAFER, grant allowed for Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue to hire more staff in order to now have three paramedics on almost every ambulance that arrives to a medical emergency in the city, Gollan said.
When the first ambulance to arrive on a scene is staffed with three paramedics, the chance someone will survive is 30% greater, Gollan said.