Firefighters are honored for a life-saving rescue

Decatur Daily Democrat:

Rescuers and the rescued do not often meet a second time, but they did on Thursday evening at an awards dinner hosted by the Decatur Fire Department that drew more than 120 people, including state officials from Indiana and Ohio.

The major honors of the night were medals of valor, and a standing ovation, for veteran firefighters Jeff Sheets and Tim Ulman for their lifesaving actions last March 2 two miles inside Ohio when they rescued an elderly woman whose car was in deep and frigid floodwater.

The woman, 81-year-old Margaret L. Spindler of Hoagland, was pulled from her car while the water was up to the window level and as she was entering hypothermia. She was taken in a fire department boat to land, driven by a Van Wert County, Ohio, ambulance to Van Wert County Hospital, then flown to Parkview Hospital in Fort Wayne.