ZELIENOPLE — Two tow truck operators have received awards for a rescue effort last year.

James Turley of Turley Truck Service and John Wallace of Wallace Towing and Repair, both based in Zelienople, received American Towman Commendations for “having professionalism shown on the job, under fire, when a human life hung in the balance.”

“It’s very humbling,” Turley said. “It means a lot.”

The event that led to the award occurred at the intersection of Little Creek Road and Seneca School Road on the morning of Sept. 8, 2014. A tractor-trailer turning onto Seneca School Road tipped over on top of a pickup truck.

The collision crushed the roof of the pickup truck, which was then pinned against a guardrail, trapping the driver. Beyond the guardrail was a 40-foot-drop.

“It was bad,” Turley said. “Time was of the essence.”

Tow trucks from both companies were called to tip the tractor-trailer back on its wheels and to tow the pickup truck away.

Assisting the trucks were the Harmony Volunteer Fire Department, which used a winch to help move the trucks, and the Jackson Township Police Department.

The fire department used the Jaws of Life to get the man out of the pickup. He was taken by helicopter to UPMC Presbyterian in Pittsburgh.

Emergency medical technicians treated both men while trapped in their vehicles.

“They were critical,” Police Chief Terry Seilhamer said of the tow trucks. “They stabilized things and enabled the fire and rescue people to save the guy in the pickup truck.”

Seilhamer said the crash was unique and the tow truck drivers did a “very professional job.”

“It was a team effort of everybody,” Turley said. “As soon as we got them out, they were transported (to a hospital).”

Turley, a lifelong resident of Cranberry Township has been around the towing business “for all his life.” His grandfather started the business in 1928.

Wallace has owned Wallace Towing and Repair since 2006 and has been in the towing industry since 1996. He lives in Shenango Township, Lawrence County.

The commendations were presented in November in Baltimore as part of the American Towman Exposition. It reads “For Courageous Professionalism, in the Endeavor to Save a Human Life.”

Turley said, “Just about everybody in the towing industry has done something like this to help save a life. If they haven’t, they will.”

The award is Turley’s second. He received one in 2009 for two crashes on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

This is Wallace’s first award.

“I was completely flattered, but I’m not one for the spotlight,” Wallace said.

“My concern was getting the guy out. I didn’t think anything else of it.”