‘He saved a man’s life’

Quick-thinking Phillip Taysum, 40, of Godfrey’s Court, dragged his neighbour outside when he spotted smoke coming from his flat in April this year.

His heroic actions earned him the Chief Fire Officer’s Commendation from Granville Jones, who was Watch Manager at Worksop on the day.

Phillip was presented with the medal at a ceremony last week to honour the bravery and dedication of firefighters and civilians across the county.

Phillip said he was shocked but honoured to have been nominated for the award.

“It felt like I didn’t really do anything and it’s what anybody would have done,” he said.

“When I got the award it really hit me and I felt so proud to be among these people.”

Phillip was about to walk his friend’s dog when he saw smoke coming out of his neighbour’s flat.

He immediately burst through the front door to check if anybody was inside and knew something was seriously wrong when he heard someone was inside.

“I just went into overdrive. I kicked the bathroom door down and saw the man lying on the floor.”

“I immediately dragged him outside and asked him if he had any pets inside. He didn’t answer so I tried to go back in but it was too smoke-logged.”

Phillip then waited with the man for fire crews to arrive.

“I was in real shock afterwards and couldn’t breathe properly,” he said.

“I just went straight to my sister’s to calm down.”

Green watch manager Granville Jones commended Phillip for his heroic efforts and said if he had arrived any later it could have been a different story.

“It’s not every day that somebody can do something like Phillip did,” he said.

“He didn’t think about his own safety and saved someone’s life which is to be applauded.”

“If he had arrived as little as five or 10 minutes later on the scene, it’s very possible that man could have died.”