Jim Howe has been physically disabled for some time now, and he owes his life to Hettinger Fire Chief Mahlon Schweigert and Nathan Nagel, both of Hettinger.

Howe lives in the Mott nursing home, but on March 2, 2006, he was at home in his recliner in Hettinger, unable to walk.

Schweigert and Nagel were returning to work after being out measuring windows, when they noticed smoke coming from the Howe residence outside Hettinger on Mirror Lake.

The men knew Jim Howe can't walk, and Nagel said they'd better check it out. They arrived at the front door and entered the house to find it completely engulfed in smoke and fire.

The men found Howe in his recliner just inside the front door.

They tried to remove him from the chair, dashing back outside several times to refill their lungs with fresh air. Finally, they broke the back off the recliner, pulled Howe off the back of the chair and out the front door to safety.

Then they quickly went to the department to equip and help other volunteers fight the house fire.

Kent T. Brackel, of the Hettinger Fire Department, nominated the men for the award.

He responded to the fire and said without action by the men that Howe would have been killed.

- Lauren Donovan