Capt. Larry Kozachuk says crews were relieved to find the girl suffered only minor injuries. (CBC)A group of Edmonton firefighters are being credited with saving the life of a 15-year-old girl pinned beneath a minivan.

The eight-man crew was responding to a report of a collision at 137th Avenue and Manning Drive on Thursday night.

When firefighters arrived on scene, they found the girl trapped underneath a Ford Freestar minivan.

"We got to one side, the side that she was closest to," said Capt. Larry Kozachuk.

"We were able to get a good grip on the south side of the van and at that time we decided to lift."

Kozachuk said paramedics were able to grab the girl by her jacket, pulling her to safety.

Edmonton firefighters lifted the rear of this van to free the 15-year-old girl pinned underneath. (CBC)"She was saying, 'Get me out.' I mean, that's all she wanted to do – get out. She wasn't complaining about her injuries at all. She was just ready to get out of there. It was very scary. I couldn't imagine what she was going through," he said.

Kozachuk said crews often use muscle power in similar situations.

"We do it all the time. We do it with the utmost safety and concern," he said.

"We would have used equipment that we're trained with, but at this time we thought we'd give it a try."

The girl suffered only a few bumps and bruises, and some burns from being near the muffler.

It is believed the girl was thrown from another vehicle when it collided with the van.