Shane Brayson's act of bravery came in August, when he was in the town working his day-job role as a truck mechanic.

Smelling smoke, he went to investigate and found a fire ripping through the top floor of the home on Chichester Terrace.

The retained firefighter from Littlehampton smashed down the door, to find Benito Salvia, 18, and his girlfriend Hannah Marchant, 16, asleep in the ground floor of the building, unaware of the fire. Shane, 35, found them on his second sweep of the property.

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On being awarded with the Spirit FM 999 award, he said: "Just like a policeman is never off duty, neither is a fireman.

"I realised there was a fire, and something took over. It is natural for firemen."

He added that he was a little embarrassed by all the attention, insisting he only did what anyone in his position would have done.
"I went from truck mechanic to fireman in about 10 seconds, but it is what we are trained to do."

Shane, who works for Paul Matthews Transport based at Littlehampton Marina, said he couldn't believe he had won an award, and that he had no idea who had put him forward.

"When I got the call to tell me I had been nominated, and that I had won, I thought it was a wind-up. I just laughed and said: 'yeah, right, of course you're calling from Spirit FM!'.

"I was completely shocked when I found out it was real."



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