A WOMAN who saved a man from being burned alive was honoured for her bravery on Wednesday, May15.

Suzanne Wise, 61, from Bradford Leigh was presented with a certificate from the Society for the Protection of Fire at Bradford on Avon fire station after she rescued a young man from his blazing caravan last May.

Mrs Wise said: "When I was told about the award I asked the fire officer if it was fairly common and he explained it was quite rare.

"I was surprised because my father was presented with the same award in 1932 when he saved some men who fell into a pit."

Mrs Wise, a psychotherapist who also runs a bed and breakfast business, said she felt the explosion at her home 60 yards away.

She said: "I ran outside and saw the caravan blazing. The young man was screaming with his arms waving.

"There were explosions going on all the time."

The psychotherapist used her skirt to smother the flames that covered Simon Marston, who was admitted to Frenchay Hospital, in Bristol, later leaving with severe scarring.

Mrs Wise said: "I didn't think twice about rescuing him, I was very glad to have been able to do it, but the timing of it all was absolutely exquisite. If I had been there a moment later, I don't think he would have survived."

"He is such a nice boy, it was a terrible thing that happened to him."

Mr Marston has kept in touch with his rescuer and bought her a yellow rose bush as a thank-you gift.

Three weeks after the caravan fire, the psychotherapist suffered her own fire drama when her airing cupboard burst into flames.

Firefighters were called to her home and Mrs Wise was taken to the Royal United Hospital in Bath with smoke inhalation and burns to her hands.

Mrs Wise said: "When I woke up I thought I was having a flashback to the earlier fire."