Wiltshire hero awarded bravery award after saving neighbour from burning building
Upon entering the property Bardha Kola was faced with a large fire and parts of the roof collapsing
Last updated 18th Mar 2023
A Wiltshire woman who rescued her neighbour from a burning building has been named in the Queen's bravery awards.
On 28 January 2020, Mrs Bardha Kola was alerted to a fire in her neighbour’s house by her husband returning from work.
She had a spare key to the house as her neighbour was elderly and physically incapacitated.
Mrs Kola entered the house and was faced with a huge blaze and parts of the roof collapsing.
Mrs Kola woke her neighbour, who had slept through her smoke alarm, lifted her from her bed and carried her to the landing.
During this time the fire had intensified further with parts of the ceiling and roof structure collapsing directly above them.
Knowing they were both in immediate danger from the effects of the fire, Mrs Kola calmly managed to place her neighbour into the fitted stairlift and descended to the ground floor hallway.
Mrs Kola then carried her neighbour through the narrow hallway to her wheelchair and exited the property.
Once clear of the property Mrs Kola got her neighbour to a place of safety and remained with her until Emergency Services arrived.
The nature of the fire was so serious that it took a further three hours to bring it under control and fully extinguish it, in this time the roof and first floor including the occupier’s bedroom were mostly destroyed.