Three Athens firefighters who rescued a girl from a raging creek in April will be honored next week by a national group.

Athens Fire & Rescue Capt. Jeff Jones, who was at the scene that day, told The News Courier he recommended the men for the commendation in a letter to the bestowing organization, the National Sons of The American Revolution. The letter detailed the rescue.

About 11:44 a.m. Sunday, April 14, firefighters received a call about a girl swept away in a creek behind Elmwood Apartments on Elm Street. Firefighters Dewalt Durisseau, Chad Green and Colton Hill responded, as did Jones.

“Once on scene, bystanders told us that a 12-year-old girl had been swept away while playing near the creek,” Jones wrote.

The girl, who had been playing on the bank, had been swept about 40 yards downstream before she could grab a limb and held on, according to a previous News Courier report.

“Due to large amounts of rain, the creek was at flood stage,” Jones said in the letter. “Our firefighters quickly moved down the creek bed to find the young lady clinging to a submerged limb. While the rest of the crew prepared for a rope rescue, Chad and Dewalt created a human chain as Colton, luckily the tallest, waded into 6 feet of rushing water to grab the victim before she lost her grip on the limb that held her.”

The girl was rescue unharmed, Jones said.

Recalling the event Wednesday, Hill told The News Courier the water was above his chin, and he stuck his foot under a root to keep from being swept away.

In recommending the men for the honor in the letter, Jones said, “None of us ever seek to separate ourselves from our crew in our work. We all know that without a driver to get us there safely, a battalion chief to guide us, or dispatch to give us the information we need, nothing happens. Life is lost without the whole team. However, these three, in their acts of selflessness, represent our team, from the 911 call to the firefighter in the water. They risked it all to save a life.”

In describing the three men to the group in the letter, Jones said Durisseau, with eight years on the department, “is calm and quiet, fiercely loyal, and still manages to instigate mischief around the station. His gentleness with patients, and the public, calms and disarms even the most upset individual.”

Green, a 10-year veteran of the department, is “very experienced, mechanically minded and a keeper of crucial technical rescue knowledge,” Jones said. “Equal parts engineer and running into battle, he is vital to our success on every call. Chad (Green) is real and honest to a fault, never keeping his thoughts a secret.”

Jones described Hill, a five-year man, this way: “A gentle giant with a goofy smile, Colton has been extraordinary since his first day. He was born to ride a fire truck. His natural instinct and talent is uncommon of his time working.”

In summarizing the letter, Jones said he had worked with the three men for years and could not have hand-picked a better crew.

“I would stack them all against any crew on the planet,” he said. “They are fine men personally and professionally.”