(Radio Iowa) – Fourteen Iowans have been honored today for their actions in life-threatening situations.

Two groups received the Sullivan Brothers Award of Valor for rescuing people from burning or submerged vehicles involved in traffic accidents. Two state troopers based in Oelwein were recognized for rescuing two people from a burning car in rural Black Hawk County on July 1, 2021. On the last day of 2021, an off-duty Marshall County Deputy Sheriff, his wife who is a former Marshalltown police sergeant and another driver saw two cars slide off Highway 330, strike a cement culvert and overturn into an icy creek.

“Please join me in a big round of applause for these heroic Iowans,” Iowa Department of Public Safety Commissioner Stephen Bayens said during a ceremony in the Iowa Capitol rotunda. “Their efforts not only impacted the lives they saved, but will have an indelible mark on their families for years to come. Thank you.”

A series of other state awards were given to a handful of other Iowans, including a central Iowa utility worker who alerted a sleeping family their home was on fire and a man who rescued a deer hunter critically injured after falling out of a tree stand in rural Guthrie County. An employee at a Fort Dodge retirement community received a Lifesaving Award for performing the Heimlich Maneuver on a resident who was choking. Governor Kim Reynolds praised the 14 Iowans for springing into action.

“Their calmness in crisis and spirit of self-sacrifice represents the very best of our great state,” she said.

Here’s the list of today’s award recipients.

Three people were honored for their efforts at the scene of an accident near Bloomfield. And a man who suffered burns as he pulled a driver and a passenger from a burning vehicle near Council Bluffs received the Governor’s Lifesaving with Valor Award.

Pictured at left is the group involved in Highway 330 rescue effort, along with state officials and a granddaughter of one of the Sullivan Brothers.