After more than a year of training for all types of disasters and emergency scenarios, Washtenaw County’s Technical Rescue Team answered its first call for service when a tornado ravaged Dundee over the weekend.

And the 17-member team delivered. Specially-trained firefighters and paramedics from public safety agencies across the county were instrumental in saving a 64-year-old woman and her dog from the rubble of her home, officials said.

Sue Britton was recovering Monday at a Toledo hospital with several broken bones. Terry Massingill, assistant chief with Dundee Township Volunteer Fire Department, said her condition was not known Tuesday, but he heard she was to be released.

Britton was sleeping when the tornado blew her home along M-50 off its foundation, causing it to collapse on her and her dog.

Ypsilanti Fire Capt. Dan Cain, who is the director of the WCTRT, said Britton’s brother was also inside the home when the tornado struck shortly after 2 a.m. He was reportedly thrown from the structure before it crumbled under the force of 130 mph winds. He suffered minor injuries and flagged down firefighters responding to another severely damaged house down the street.

Massengill said firefighters made contact with Britton and quickly realized any rescue would be complicated.

“We knew generally where she was, but that was it,” Massingill said. “We didn’t have any way to get to her and keep her and everybody else safe.”

Massingill called Cain for assistance at about 3:30 a.m., and the team assembled in what was Britton’s yard along M-50. Her property is barely a mile from Cabela’s and the Splash Universe water park, which was evacuated and damaged by the tornado.

Teams from Ann Arbor and Lenawee County also were working at the scene. For the next three hours, they strategically cut, sheared and removed debris while bracing the remnants of the home to prevent further collapse.

Britton and her dog ended up trapped on the concrete slab where her garage was supposed to be. They were lodged underneath one of the main walls of the home’s second floor, which landed on its side as the structure flipped over. She and her dog were in the space for three hours, braced somewhat by an old large-screen television, officials said.

Once they stabilized the debris, team members started tunneling to Britton, little by little.

“She truly had the house on top of her, and it took a lot of people to do this carefully,” Cain said. “Because no matter how fast to want to work, it’s like a house of Lincoln Logs - you pull the wrong piece out at the wrong time, and you change the entire event.”

As they drew close to Britton, they had to pull back because what remained of the house shifted, Cain said. She remained lucid and was talking the entire time, despite what must have been serious pain, Cain said.

“Just thinking about what she went through, and for how long that situation was, she was a real trouper,” he said.

Rescuers reached the dog first. Further information about its condition was not available Tuesday.

The twister was one of eight to land in the Midwest during the heavy storms Sunday, leaving thousands without power and causing millions of dollars in damages. No deaths occurred, but at least 11 people were injured in Monroe County.

Cain said he was proud the team, which officially became operational in February, responded so well after months of training for confined space rescues in collapsed structures.

“It was a real coordinated effort and a culmination of an unbelievable amount of hours to get ready, but to have a successful result our first time out felt pretty good,” he said.

Massingill urged anyone who wants to help the Dundee community recover to call township offices at 734-529-3430.

Art Aisner is a freelance writer for AnnArbor.com. Reach the news desk at news@annarbor.com or 734-623-2530.