JACKSONVILLE — Mildred Roberts, 86, of Jacksonville was sitting in her bed Monday Dec. 5, when she heard sirens and the beeping of a smoke detector. Before she could put two and two together, she said firefighters came into her room, filling it with smoke.

“I was just laying there, and I heard smoke alarms and I know I heard the fire trucks,” she said. “There was a lot of noise — just a lot of noise — I didn't have time to think 'what in the world is going on' because the firemen came in and grabbed me up.”

Roberts, who is bedridden, said the firefighters got to her before she even realized there was a fire in the room adjacent to hers.

“They said, 'you gotta go, the house is on fire,' and they were picking me up at the same time,” she said. “They didn't waste any time.”

She said the men had her sitting outside her home, 808 Fort Worth St., before the ambulance arrived.

Roberts did not suffer from smoke inhalation. Jacksonville Fire Chief Paul White said she was the first person he had ever seen who was rescued, treated and released at the scene of the fire.

“If she was siting on her bed, the smoke would have been above her head, that's the only reason she didn't know about the fire,” her son, Jody Roberts, said.

“And too, she's on oxygen and has a concentrator,” Ricky Roberts added. “The conclusions of the fire department said if she had not been breathing that 100 percent oxygen, then she would have got smoke inhalation.”

Two firefighters who helped save the woman from a burning house last month received awards and recognition from an unlikely source — the Police and Fireman's Insurance Association.

Firefighters Cory Dahms and Jeremy Spencer were each given a plaque, certificate, a pin to wear on their dress uniforms and their name on a wall of honor at the insurance company's headquarters in Carmel, IN on Tuesday for carrying Mildred Roberts out of her burning home.

Spencer and Dahms said although the recognition was nice, they were just doing their jobs.

“The call came out, we had a job to do, we knew there was someone inside, we did our job, and we got her out alive,” Spencer said. “The reward is awesome. It's definitely something I've never received.”

“The best part of the job is being able to help people, but it's nice to get a reward for it,” Dahms said.

Family members said firefighters are their heroes.

“They didn't take any credit for it, but that's the way police and firefighters do,” Jody Roberts said. “They never say they're heroes but they are. They are our heroes.”

White said Spencer and Dahms are some of his newest firefighters. He said Dahms had been with the department since October 2008 and Spencer came on in March of 2011.

“They got in there real fast,” White said. “They did what they were supposed to do, and the dispatchers said someone was still in the house, so they ran in immediately looking for them. They didn't mess around. They went in there right away looking for her.”

White said while the awards are for Dahms and Spencer, there were five people in the home searching for Roberts and other family members.

“There was a lieutenant in there, Mark Simmons, who was really coordinating the interior search,” White said. “He did a real good job of doing a primary search.”

As Roberts was being carried out of the home, J.T. Terry and Joe Nix continued searching for others who could be in danger.

Roberts' son Ricky personally went to the fire department to thank the firefighters for saving his mother.

“When I went to the fire department, Joe Nix was in there,” Ricky Roberts said. “I said Mr. Nix,  you and another man saved my mother's life, and he said, 'no, five of us saved her life as a team.'”

Family members said they are slowly putting their lives, and their home, back together. They said after the fire, they lived with a family member in a two-bedroom apartment for a month.

“Seven people in a two bedroom — it was tough,” Jody Roberts said.

The family moved back into their home on New Year's Day, and they have begun to make repairs. Mildred's bedroom has been painted and cleared of smoke damage, they kitchen is currently being painted, and the front bedroom, where the fire sparked, is slowly getting replaced as well.

“We have been lucky,” Ricky Roberts said. “Me and Marsha (his wife) have been married 43 years and we've never had a fire or anything like this, so it was a really hard shock that day, but it turned out great.”