Four get state's first Medal of Valor

OLYMPIA — Awarding the state's Medal of Valor for the first time, Gov. Christine Gregoire and the Legislature on Monday honored four heroes who risked their lives to save others.

Jim Swett of Sedro-Woolley, Greg Meinhold of Everett and Travis Jackson and Dennis Kinsey of Clark County all qualified for the medal, established in 1999.

"These four citizens, emblematic of 'do unto others,' have set a new bar for citizen heroism in our state," Gregoire told lawmakers in a joint session. "They have renewed our faith, that in the heat of the moment, citizens will step up."

Swett, a trucker, was returning from a delivery in 2004 when he saw a gruesome crash on Interstate 5 near Smokey Point in Snohomish County. A southbound truck had crossed the median and collided with two northbound vehicles — a fiery disaster that was melting car windows.

After smashing a window out of a Suburban and pulling a woman to safety, Swett, 68 years old then, attached a rope to his truck and pulled the SUV from the burning wreck. He pried open a door with a crowbar and rescued two children from the back seat.

The children had red hair, reminding Swett of his grandson, 15, who had died in a rollover crash four years earlier.

In 2001, Meinhold was driving along Silver Lake in Everett when he noticed a man flailing in the water. The former Boy Scout drove to a nearby restaurant to grab a display canoe. Needing an oar, Meinhold burst into the restaurant's kitchen and grabbed a cookie sheet.

Using that, he managed to propel the canoe to the middle of the lake to save the man as well as the man's dog.

Jackson and Kinsey came together in January 2005 to save a man stuck in a burning Jeep off Highway 500 in Orchards, near Vancouver. After calling for help, Jackson used a fire extinguisher to beat back the flames, then pried open the jammed car door with his bare hands.

Kinsey helped pull the man from the vehicle and then cared for the driver until emergency crews arrived.