SACRAMENTO – A Siskiyou County electrician was one of nine Caltrans employees to receive the California Governor’s State Employee Medal of Valor Wednesday.
The medal, awarded based on acts of heroism to save lives or protect state property, is the highest honor California gives to its public servants.
Electrician Danny Dube from District 2 received a Silver Medal of Valor for saving a woman from her damaged vehicle after it had rolled over the center divide of a Siskiyou County highway on a foggy day in February of 2023.
“We are extremely proud of these nine Caltrans workers who courageously saved others while putting their own lives at risk,” Caltrans Director Tony Tavares said. “Today, our entire Caltrans family joins Governor Newsom in honoring them and thanking them for their selfless acts.”
Seven other individuals received Silver Medals of Valor, while the Gold Medal of Valor was awarded to Geoff Clute a bridge maintenance supervisor in District 4. According to Caltrans, Clute saved a man trapped inside of a burning vehicle in Solano County in July of 2023.
According to a press release from Caltrans, “gold medals are awarded to state employees who perform extraordinary acts of heroism at great risk to their own life to save another human being. Silver medals are presented to those whose act of heroism extended above and beyond the normal call of duty at personal risk to their safety to save human life or state property.”
The honor, which has been awarded to more than 800 state employees, was first presented by Governor Edmund G. Brown Sr. in 1959.
© 2024 KOBI-TV NBC5. All rights reserved unless otherwise stated.