“Ma’am, if you don’t crawl out now, we are going to die.”

The warning to Iron Canyon Road resident Donna Fink from Los Angeles County firefighter/paramedic Connor Bauman was dire.

For the last 30 hours, flames had approached homes on North Iron Canyon Road, and on Saturday, July 23, it was time to leave.

During its annual Medal of Valor award ceremony Wednesday in Pasadena, the Los Angeles County Fire Department honored Bauman for his courage and bravery in saving the life of an Iron Canyon Road resident who lost almost everything in last summer’s Sand Fire. The awards are given once a year to recognize bravery in civilians and firefighters. Two were given at last night’s ceremony, one to Connor Bauman and another to Battalion Chief Gerald Gonzales, who conducted a search and rescue mission to a remote village of Nepal where he and his crew saved dozens of lives. It’s the highest honor the department awards.

Fink had been searching to find out who the firefighter was who saved her for months, and upon hearing the details from Bauman’s rescue, she realized it was her whom the story was referencing.

“We were both kind of in a hurry (at the time),” she said, able to talk about the incident with a bit of humor, now that some time has passed. “I heard a voice from nowhere — I didn’t even know where the voice was coming from,” she added, recalling Bauman’s heroic rescue. “And then he was running at me.”

The Sand Fire torched much of Sand Canyon, and took weeks before it was officially considered under control. After only four days, it had burned about 37,000 acres, numerous structures — including at least a dozen homes — and was only about 25 percent contained.

Bauman was working with a Strike Team assigned to the area as the response to the Sand Fire grew, which had hundreds of firefighters from at least three different agencies — CalFire, Forest Service and L.A. County officials.

The sense of urgency was more apparent to Bauman than the bewildered Fink, who recalls giving Bauman “a hard time” at first, because she was worried for her significant other, Bob Bresnick, who ultimately didn’t make it out.

“I also was trying to yell to Bob at the same time,” she recalled, “Saying (to Bob), ‘Come to the front! Come to the front!’”

Due to everything going on around her, Fink failed to respond to Bauman’s instructions, causing the firefighter to sprint into action.

He ran up a small incline, scaled a fence and reached Fink on the porch of her house.

While Fink was panicked by the life-threatening circumstances, Bauman immediately began to assist her. He quickly guided her away from her home and noticed behind them that the structure was fully engulfed in flames.

At this point, Bauman hoisted her up onto his shoulder and carried her as far as they could go before realizing they were fenced in. Unable to lift her over or under the chain-link fence, he followed the fence line down the hill until they reached a locked gate.

Bauman put the woman down and attempted to open the gate, but unable to, he then found a small hole dug by Fink’s dogs, which ultimately saved both their lives.

He crawled through the small opening at the lower-right corner where the gate posts and fence met.

Bauman and the woman were racing against time with flames inching closer and closer to them.

The fire had already crested the hill and the property was now fully engulfed in flames.

In the nick of time, he managed to find a spot where three repair wires could be undone and provide a small gap in the fence.

Peeling the fence back, he instructed the woman to get on her stomach and crawl out, urging her on with the aforementioned life-or-death warning.

For Fink, she’s grateful to find out who had saved her, despite all that she’s been through. She thanked the Fire Department, and the community that’s helped her recover.

“It’s still very difficult,” said Donna Fink, noting she lost their home, her love and almost her life. “You know you have to move forward and people have been wonderful. We have so many good people. And these firefighters put their lives on the line every day, and I’m so grateful.”