Hero officers win regional Bravery Award for house fire rescue

10 July 2026

‘We were just doing our job,’ say two Gwent Police officers who were regional winners at the Police Bravery Awards after risking their safety to rescue a man from a burning building.

PC Danielle Westbrook and PC Thomas Simmonds their exceptional courage in pulling the man to safety from a house fire in Tredegar.

The officers said they were ‘shocked’ to win the Welsh regional award at the Police Federation of England and Wales Bravery Awards.

Danielle said: “Dan I think we were just both very shocked because some of the stories were outstanding.

 

 

“We sat there and thought, we don't deserve to win this.

“But somehow we have and I think every officer in the awards ceremony will sit there and say, it's just our job.

“We're all humble. None of us want to be in the limelight for anything we do.”

The officers were the first to arrive at the scene of a house fire in Tredegar during the early hours of 6 April 2025.

Distressed

On arrival, they were met by a distressed resident whose deafness initially made communication difficult, before the officers established that another person remained inside the house.

Danielle and Thomas entered the burning house in an attempt to locate the missing occupant.

Thick smoke severely restricted their visibility and, despite making their way upstairs, they were forced to retreat as conditions deteriorated.

Danielle said they initially stepped back as firefighters arrived. But knowing someone was still trapped inside, she made the courageous decision to go back into the property with the first firefighter who entered.

She said: “We didn’t know how heavy this person was, where he was in the property.

“I thought I’d go in with him just in case.”

Dense smoke

At the top of the stairs, through the dense smoke, she spotted a hand appearing on the banister.

She immediately moved towards the casualty, grabbed hold of him and, with assistance from firefighters, pulled him to safety.

The man was taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation and scarring to his lungs.

Thomas, speaking after the awards presentation, was keen to highlight the bravery shown by Danielle, who has since transferred to Wiltshire Police.

He said: “We've had a lovely couple of days in London at the awards. We thought we were coming here just because we've been nominated.

“We never expected to win because the stories we’ve heard are outstanding.

“I'm going to be honest, Dan absolutely deserves one for this. And she's going to stay humble, but she saved that man’s life that night.”

Vice chair Jamie Jones represented Gwent Police Federation at the awards ceremony.

Humble

He said: “It’s an incredible privilege to be at the awards.

“It was the first time I’ve had the honour of coming to the Bravery Awards and it’s amazing listening to and reading about all of the stories from up and down the country, and the amazing acts that everyone has done.

“It’s extra special for me - not only because Gwent Force have won the regional award but they were both on my team when the incident happened. It’s thoroughly deserved and congratulations to them from the Federation and our members.”

Gwent Police Chief Constable Mark Hobrough also attended the awards.

Speaking at the event, he said: “I’m exceptionally proud. Danielle and Tom have done a fantastic job in really difficult circumstances.

“It’s often said that policing is a very difficult job done by ordinary people, but I would have to counter that and say it’s an exceptional job done by exceptional people, and they really have demonstrated outstanding bravery, like all the people who have been recognised.”

READ MORE: Members nominated for National Bravery Award after house fire rescue.