Anglesey postman hailed a hero after blaze rescue

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-w ... -22072202/

AN ANGLESEY postman is in line for a bravery award after he rescued an elderly woman from her burning home.

Gwyn Owen of Llangefni is in line for the award for going into the house, putting out the fire and leading the confused and frightened pensioner out of her house.

The woman escaped uninjured from the incident, at Maes Llydan in Benllech earlier this month.

Mr Owen told the Daily Post he was on his rounds when he noticed the curtains of the woman’s house were still drawn at 11.30am.

"She is usually up and about by then. When her husband was still living in the house they would both be sitting in chairs near the window having a cup of tea when I would arrive and they would wave and come to the door.

"She has a mobility scooter and I thought she might have gone to the village but when I got to the door I could hear the smoke alarms.

"I looked through the letterbox and saw the house was full of smoke and the alarms were ringing constantly. There was also a strong burning smell."

Gwyn dashed to a neighbour’s house and luckily managed to get a key to get into the house.

"The house was full of smoke. In the kitchen there was a saucepan which had been burnt right through. The curtains nearby had caught light. Another few minutes and there would have been a far more serious fire. I found the lady in a bedroom. She was totally confused by the situation, she could hear the alarms and see the smoke but didn’t know what to do. I led her out of the house.

"Neighbours were there very quickly to help. She was all right but to be on the safe side we called an ambulance. The fire was out so there was no need for the fire brigade."

He said the woman, in her mid-70s, has since joined her husband at a residential home.

A postman for nearly 40 years, Gwyn said such an incident had never happened on his rounds before.

"Its something I did at home once. I put a saucepan on the stove to boil some eggs and sat down and fell asleep. I woke up and the water had boiled dry and the eggs were bouncing around the saucepan. Its an easy thing to do," he smiled.

Gwyn then carried on with the rest of his round and it was only much later that news of his brave actions reached the Llangefni delivery office where he is based.

His boss at the delivery office, Gwynfor Jones, said his actions were typical of Gwyn.

"He will go the extra mile to help people without thinking. He knows his round and he knows the the people who live in the houses. I know of another elderly lady who lives on Gwyn’s round who has arthritis. When he delivers letters to her house he makes sure the letters don’t fall through the letter-box so she doesn’t have to bend down to pick them up.

"If Gwyn is honoured with an award for what he did in this instance it will be richly deserved."

A Royal Mail spokeswoman said the company has a scheme called First Class Postman and Gwyn was likely to be put forward for an award.

[brothermagrew]

Hats off to Gwyn