Michelle Phelan, 15, stands with some of the firefighters Wednesday at Fire Station No. 18, 13808 Victoria Trail, who saved her from underneath a minivan in January. (Jordan Verlage, QMI Agency)

EDMONTON - Bearing a cool treat for her warm-hearted heroes, a 15-year-old Edmonton girl thanked the firefighters who helped rescue her from underneath a minivan seven weeks ago.

Michelle Phelan and her dad showed up at Fire Station No. 18, 13808 Victoria Trail, on Wednesday evening with a Dairy Queen ice cream cake replete with a red fire hat and "Thank you" written in icing.

"Thank-you is not even enough," the teen told the Edmonton Sun, noting her injuries would have been much more severe had the firefighters not acted so quickly. "What they did is really amazing. They're heroes."

Michelle found herself pinned face-down against a snowbank, underneath a 2.7-tonne minivan around 9 p.m. on Jan. 21 at the intersection of 137 Street and Manning Drive.

She and her dad, Michael Phelan, and a friend were headed home from a riding stable when their Pontiac Sunfire collided with a Ford Freestar minivan.

Michelle was thrown from the back seat and landed in a half-metre-deep snowbank. The Freestar landed on top of her, pushing her down into the snow.

Fire crews arrived to find Michelle conscious and screaming hysterically.

The firefighters quickly hoisted one side of the van so paramedics could pull Michelle out.

Miraculously, her only significant injuries were third-degree burns on her back and legs, which came from the van's hot tailpipe.

Michelle spent two weeks in University Hospital's burn unit and missed 3Ohm weeks of school.

Wednesday night was the first time she saw her rescuers since the crash.

The thank-you was delayed while Michelle recovered.

"We just wanted to show them our appreciation," said Michael, a single dad whose other daughter lives in Costa Rica with her husband.

"It might be routine stuff for them but it's anything but routine for us."

Michael blacked out momentarily after the crash and suffered a broken rib. Michelle's friend escaped unscathed.

The grateful dad knows it could've turned out much worse.

Besides thanking the firefighters, he also thanked the police and paramedics who responded, along with staff at the Stollery Children's Hospital and University hospital's burn unit.

Michelle must now wear a special garment over the skin-grafted sections of her body for up to two years to maintain pressure to reduce scarring.

The largest area, on her lower back and hip, is about 41 cm long and 15 cmwide, Michael said.

A smaller one, on her ankle, measures about four or five diameters, he added.

- With files from Andrew Hanon

cary.castagna@sunmedia.ca