The Billings Fire Department hosted an award ceremony Saturday afternoon honoring two teenage girls and six firefighters for their acts of bravery this year. The girls, Sadie DeBusk and Hallelujah McPherson, were awarded with Citizen Service Medals for helping to rescue a 10-year-old girl and her father who fell off their floatation devices in Lake Elmo on July 27. The incident involved the rescue of nine people, three of which were hospitalized.
DeBusk and McPherson, who did not know each other before this occurred, had been floating in the lake. “I saw the little girl was screaming and crying and I went over, and I got her on my paddle board,” recalled DeBusk. DeBusk put a life jacket on the girl and her and McPherson helped bring the girl and father halfway to shore before first responders arrived. DeBusk said the girl was unresponsive at first. “She was like, kind of out of it, just scared. And I remember Halle was really good at helping with trying to calm her down,” said DeBusk.
