Three Urbana firefighters were awarded commendations of valor Wednesday afternoon for their role in the rescue of three Urbana apartment dwellers from a fire two months ago.

Members of the rescuing unit and members of their families assembled at Urbana’s main fire station at 400 S. Vine St. to listen to Chief Rex Mundt publicly thank Robert Mullins, Richard Ferriman and Ryan McCarty for the lives saved.

Mullins, a company officer, expressed his thanks to the other units that supported his unit during the June 21 fire.

“Without everyone doing their job, we wouldn’t have stood a chance of doing this,” Mullins said.

Mullins said he had just turned in for the night when his unit was called to 902 E. Harding Drive, a three-story apartment complex in southeast Urbana. Flames engulfed one bedroom window and heavy smoke surrounded the entire top floor, he said

As they hooked hoses up to the hydrant, command called to report a woman spotted on the third floor ledge.

“She looked like she was going to jump,” said Division Chief Mick Humer.

Mullins and McCarty ran a ladder to the woman, and McCarty climbed up to her.

McCarty and Ferriman searched the complex for any other residents still inside. They found a man and a woman on the second floor and led them downstairs to safety, according to Ferriman.

“We just grabbed them and got them out of there,” Ferriman said.

No deaths or major injuries resulted from the blaze. The fire department ruled the fire accidental but stopped short of determining the actual cause. Richard Rotrammel, the division chief for prevention and education, said the electrical system was the most likely culprit.

Mullins said this was his first rescue in 20 years at the Urbana fire department.

“It doesn’t happen very often,” Mullins said. “But our response to such a situation comes so automatically because of our training,” he also said.