Heroes in running for fire service award after rescuing blaze victims

Gareth Cooke, 30, who embarked on an early-morning rooftop dash to save a neighbour from a house in Gipsyville in Hull, is one of the nominees for this year’s Humberside Fire and Rescue Service awards.

Mr Cooke heard yells for help and leapt into action, scaling a 6ft wall and jumping between a row of single-storey roofs, to get to a house 50m away where a man was hanging out of the window, dragging him out of the thick smoke. He was about to clamber back through the window to try and rescue two others when a fireman appeared in the smoke.

He later said he wouldn’t like to call himself a hero, adding: “Anybody would do the same.”

The second man, Paul Anderson, helped save the lives of a mother and daughter, who were fast asleep when a fire started in his downstairs flat in Sutton, near Hull. When he realised they were still in the burning building he went back in, banged on the door until the mother answered, throwing a jumper over the little girl and running down the stairs with her through flames to safety. A third nominee has withdrawn.

The winners will be announced on September 27.