At 2:33 a.m. Dec. 19, 2011, firefighters went to Meadow Creek Condos to extinguish a heavy fire on the first floor. When they arrived, they found that two residents had already jumped in to help.

Eliecer Ramirez Vargas and Rebecca Dahlquist-Eckhoff had pulled over patio furniture that they stood on to help second-floor residents climb down to safety through the windows.

For their actions, Hopkins awarded them with the city’s Life Safety Award on Tuesday.

“They had moved tables over, patio tables, chairs, whatever they could get to, to help rescue occupants of this burning building at 810 Old Settlers Trail,” Fire Chief Dale Specken said.

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