Jill Schramm/MDN Scott Allen, left, is congratulated by Mayor Tom Ross, right, at Monday’s Minot City Council meeting prior to the presentation of a city coin in recognition of his efforts in saving a woman from a California river in July.

A Minot firefighter was honored Monday for a rescue, not while on the job but while on vacation.

Scott Allen was presented with the city coin from Mayor Tom Ross during Monday’s Minot City Council meeting.

According to the City of Minot, Allen, originally from Jacksonville, Florida,, and his wife decided to remain in Minot following his time as a bomber mechanic in the U.S. Air Force. He joined the Minot Fire Department three years ago.

On vacation in California in early July, Allen helped rescue a family member during what was otherwise a day of lazily floating down the American River on a large raft with a group of nine people.

“We were stopping at islands every once in a while to let the kids swim. About our third stop, we got out and we were all kind of watching the kids get ready. My wife’s sister was the only one looking at the river where my brother-in-law’s wife was starting to float away a little bit. At first, we thought she was swimming so it was OK. It took us a few seconds to realize she was in trouble,” Allen said in information provided by the city.

Hanh Nguyen, the woman rescued, said in a letter to the city that she was taking a short swim with her life jacket on when the water current quickly took her out farther than she was ready for.

“However, Scott saw the danger I was in and immediately jumped in the water,” she wrote.

Upon reaching Nguyen, he found her too tired to swim back so took hold of a piece of rock to keep them afloat until help could arrive on the raft.

Allen attributed his quick reaction to his training as a firefighter.

“When you get into our line of work, I think you tend to pay more attention to things around you. You notice more things. It’s on your mind all the time,” he said.

Allen said there was an area of rapids not far away, so he knew he had to get Nguyen out of the river as fast as possible.

“If she would have gotten into those rapids, she could have gotten badly hurt,” he said.

The incident increased the family’s caution but didn’t ruin the day of rafting.

“Every time we stopped after that to let the kids swim, we didn’t let go of them,” Allen said. “But no one got hurt, and that’s all that matters.”

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