An engineering worker who braved smoke and flames to help rescue a woman in a house fire is to receive a hero's award.

Neil Emery, an employee of Rayden Engineering, based in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, will receive the award at a ceremony in Birmingham next month for rescuing the woman from her home in the West Midlands in spring last year.

Neil is maintenance operative at the National Grid Pipeline Maintenance Centre at Saltley, Birmingham. He has worked for more than three years for Rayden which has a contract to supply employees to the centres.

His heroic action happened on his day off.  Neil was mending the radio in his car outside his home in Beaumont Road, Halesowen, where he had moved in only six weeks previously.

He saw smoke coming from the back of a house opposite, but thinking it was a barbecue carried on working. "Then when I looked again a couple of minutes later thick black smoke was billowing out of the back of the house," he said.

As a newcomer Neil did not know residents from other homes in the street. A neighbour, Tom Hackett, came from his house nearby and said that a woman called Dawn was in the house. Tom tried the door to the entry but could not open it.

"I told him to stand aside. I took a run and kicked it open," said Neil. "Immediately, thick black smoke hit us. I was first up the entry and Tom was behind. The entry was full of smoke and we could not see anything.

"I found my way to the back door and went into the kitchen, which was full of smoke. We turned left into the living room. There were flames in the corner hitting the ceiling."

Neil managed to find Dawn on the floor because she was wearing light clothing. She was semi-conscious. She told him there was no-one else in the house. Tom turned off the gas fire.

The two men carried the woman, still in her nightgown, out of the house and sat her on a wall opposite. Meanwhile, somebody had dialled 999 and all three emergency services arrived.

Neil, who had attended a fire marshal's course a few weeks previously, said that a fire officer told him they were lucky to get in and out of the house as the heat was melting the top of the fridge, but their prompt action had saved the woman's life.

"At the entry, I had mixed emotions, adrenaline and fear," he said, "but I carried on. Everything happened so quickly.  I don't consider myself a hero. I was just glad to have helped."

He and Tom, who have since become friends, are to attend the Birmingham Mail Local heroes awards lunch in the city, but do not know what they will receive. "It's a nice feeling to be recognised," said 44-year-old Neil, who is married and has five sons and a daughter.

Steve Walton, operational engineer manager at Saltley, said: "Neil is a good, reliable worker and an essential part of the team here. "We are all proud that his brave action helped save the woman's life." 

Richard Hayden, managing director of Rayden Engineering, which was set up in 1979 to provide specialist high pressure pipe welding and fabrication service, particularly in the gas industry, added his own accolade.

"I am delighted that Neil is to be honoured for his bravery," he said. "Health and safety is paramount in this industry and although this incident was out of work time Neil's instinctive reaction to help reflects the importance of vigilance and training."