''Hearing her say goodbye - that was it,'' Mr Delamere said yesterday.
''We weren't going to let that happen.''
The Oamaru fire officer yesterday received a Royal Humane Society of New Zealand Silver Medal and Waitaki Rural Fire Officer Eric Spittal a Bronze Medal for risking their lives to rescue a Waikouaiti couple from a burning car trapped by a high voltage line after a crash near Oamaru in 2008.
Speaking after the ceremony at Government House, hosted by Governor-General Sir Jerry Mateparae, Mr Delamere recalled deciding ''to give it a go'' using a fibreglass pole the brigade had. At his first attempt he could not lift the heavy power line sufficiently and electricity arced back to the roof, burning it.
Lowering his grip, he succeeded in lifting the cable to break contact long enough for others to pull the couple out.
Both men were humble about their awards yesterday, but recalled their determination at the time to rescue the 25-year-old man and the 23-year-old woman from their Toyota Camry after it crashed into a power pole and brought down the 11kV line on top of it.
''It was probably not in the protocols, but we were not going to stand there and let it [the couple die] happen. It ended up with a good result,'' Mr Delamere said.
When asked about receiving the medal, Mr Delamere said he was ''not really into that thing''.
''I find it a wee bit awkward,'' he admitted, but was pleased his family was with him for the presentation.
Mr Spittal said both he and Mr Delamere had ''come close to dying that day''.
''But that's what we are here for,'' he said about people who work for emergency services.
Yesterday's presentation was ''a bit surreal'', but his greatest memory was that a couple survived when they had given up hope.
''On that occasion we all truly saved two lives. That was a privilege,'' he said.
Mr Spittal was one of the first at the crash at Richmond on State Highway 1. The woman had tried to get out by kicking her door open, but received an electric shock.
Mr Spittal went under the power lines several times with a fire extinguisher to try to get the couple out. He experienced pain and tingling from the live line.
Others arrived and used fire extinguishers to try to put the fire out until the Oamaru fire brigade could arrive, but each time they stopped it would reignite in the grass, engine bay and tyres.
Both men were nominated by former Oamaru police Sergeant Tony Woodbridge.
