Darrell Hill (left) expresses his gratitude after receiving the Tama Fire Department Small Town Hero award with Tama Citizen of the Year Doug Ray (center) and Fire Chief Paul Ellenbecker during the Lincoln Highway Bridge Festival program at the fire station on Friday night, May 18. Hill is credited for alerting three members of a family their home was on fire on Nov. 3 of last year. News-Herald/John Speer

Darrell Hill, Tama, was the recipient of the first Small town Hero Award presented by the Tama Fire Department. Hill was recognized during Lincoln Highway Bridge Festival ceremonies at the Tama Fire Station on Friday night, May 18. Fire Chief Paul Ellenbecker made the presentation following recognition of Doug Ray as the 2018 Tama Citizen of the Year.

Hill received a plaque in his honor for his role in alerting three Tama residents to a fire in their home on the morning of Friday, Nov. 3, 2017.

Hill told The News-Herald following the ceremony his wife and himself had just left for their commute from their home on McClellan Street in Tama to the University of Iowa in Iowa City when he noticed smoke coming from the roof of the two-story frame home at 1101 State street.

He turned in the alarm and said he alerted a grandfather, mother and child to the fire. He said Police Chief Jason Bina and he also tried to locate the family’s pet cats but had to leave the house due to the fire.

Hill is a communications and business major at the U of I.