COEUR d'ALENE - In the eyes of a child, police officers and firefighters are larger than life.

When that officer or firefighter is a father, he's not just "Dad."

He's Super Dad.

"I'm super proud of my dad," said 9-year-old Nick Duzet.

"I'm proud of him, of course. He saves lives," said Nick's little brother, Alex, 7.

Northern Lakes Fire District paramedic Phillip Duzet was one of 51 local heroes honored Saturday during the first Coeur d'Alene Regional Day of Heroes in Coeur d'Alene City Park.

Phillip had to rush away to work, as heroes often do, but his family lingered in the park after he received his Local Hero Award to enjoy the sunshine and the many activities at the event.

"It's hard some days, but most days it's really awesome just to be able to say, 'That's mine,'" said Phillip's wife, Amanda. "After a while you just kind of get used to it, them running and going, it's just daily for us. I'm really proud of him all the time."

About 500 people attended the Day of Heroes, an event that specially recognized law enforcement, firefighters, first-responders and other emergency personnel who were nominated for going above and beyond the call of duty. Coeur d'Alene Mayor Steve Widmyer presented the opening remarks and Post Falls Mayor Ron Jacobson gave a speech honoring the men and women who are North Idaho's finest.

"Mayor Jacobson gave an incredible speech, that was actually really emotional," said event director Matt Rowe of Gateway Fellowship. Rowe and Gateway organized and facilitated the event with about 50 volunteers.

"For the first one ever, it was really good," Rowe said. "I thought that it went off really well ... the families have had a good time."

Rowe said Coeur d'Alene Police Sgt. Greg Moore, the officer killed in the line of duty last month, was among the award nominees.

"We actually did 27 seconds of silence for K27," Rowe said. "He was actually nominated before he died."

Rowe's wife, Karissa, said the event was amazing.

"I think it was great that so much of the community honored so much of our officers and firefighters and paramedics," she said. "I think it was great how, even though the event didn't get out as much as we hoped it to, it was still pretty big as far as honor went."

A few fire and police vehicles were parked on the lawn for the public to see from close proximity. Coeur d'Alene Police Sgt. Erik Turrell smiled as he told a wide-eyed little boy he was welcome to check out the back seat of a police cruiser, which the curious boy was happy to do.

"I think it's just great that we live in a community that would put this together and honor the local heroes, in law enforcement and the fire department," Turrell said. "I had a gentleman and his family stop by and say, 'Hey, you know, we never see you, and we wanted to take the opportunity to thank you for everything you do.' He kind of made a joke, 'We never see you because you guys never stop me.' It's just kind of neat to have the community come up and thank us for what we do. We really appreciate it."

Along with the men and women in uniform, a few civilians were honored for various acts of bravery. One citizen of valor who received a Certificate of Honor was Andrew Watson of Coeur d'Alene.

In January, Watson led a rescue mission through the snowy mountains around Mullan where his friend, Barry Sadler, had gone missing while extreme riding on his snowmobile.

"We had five or six feet of snow within 24 hours," Watson said. "It snowed so much it was almost impossible, the worst conditions ever to have somebody lost out there. Everything was just so covered in snow, it was so deep."

He received a call that his friend was missing, so he left work and aided the search and rescue crews to find Sadler. As night approached and the search was called off, Watson continued. He and a handful of friends went out into the freezing cold night, and eventually found Sadler. He was in a ravine and barely alive, keeping warm by the heat of his snowmobile engine. He was out in the harsh winter conditions almost 40 hours with no supplies and suffered frostbite and carbon monoxide poisoning. But he survived, thanks to Watson and his team.

"When all the agencies gave up, the friend didn't," said Watson's mom, Stephanie Watson. "My son refused to give up."

Andrew's mom, grandmother Annie Watson and fiancee Amanda Corning were proud of their hero as he humbly stood alongside North Idaho's finest in bravery. Andrew said he was just doing what he hoped his friends would do for him in the same scenario.

"When I was up there, it was really neat to be sitting next to people who wear the uniforms," Andrew said. "These guys are pretty big heroes every day."