A PARAMEDIC who heroically rescued an elderly lady from a house fire has been nominated for a bravery award.

Penarth'sTammy Ryan will find out whether she has won the St David Award for bravery during a glittering ceremony at the Senedd on Thursday, March 12.

The awards, now in their second year, acknowledge the extraordinary achievements of people in Wales.

Finalists this year include elite sportsmen and women; heroes; inventors; innovators; entertainers; ambassadors for Wales and those who put other people’s needs before their own with their charity and volunteer work.

The finalists in the nine award categories include Bravery; Citizenship; International; Culture; Enterprise; Innovation and Technology; Sport and Young Person.

Tammy, a Rapid Response Vehicle paramedic based in Barry, was nominated for the bravery award for her role in saving the life of an elderly lady in Dinas Powys in May 2013.

She was nearing the end of her shift when a late call came for her to attend to an elderly lady who had fallen at her home.

The call wasn’t classified as an emergency, but when she arrived at the house she realised that things were much more serious.

When she opened the porch door she was met by a light smell of smoke, with clouds of smoke building up in the ceiling. Crawling through the house on her hands and knees shouting the lady’s name, she found her on the kitchen floor with an injured leg and unable to stand. She could see that the fire had been caused by a pan on the cooker.

Tammy managed to get her arms underneath her and half lifted her and dragged her out onto the veranda.

Tammy sat the lady on a chair, quickly checked her over and radioed to control for an ambulance and a fire engine. In order to save the house, she went back in to the house, knocked the pan off the cooker with a walking stick, poured water over it, opened the back door and returned to her patient to wait for the ambulance and fire brigade.

Tammy will be competing against three Cardigan RNLI volunteers who were involved in a dramatic night-time rescue near Tresaith in Ceredigion in September 2013, and three policemen from Dyfed Powys Police who saved two people from a house fire in Haverfordwest in November 2013, for the bravery award.

The winners will be announced during an awards ceremony on March 12.