THREE Andover firefighters have received certificates from the Royal Humane Society for their parts in saving the life of a mother and her young son.

In February 2001 two Andover crews were called out to a fire in Quarley were people were trapped.

Firefighter Geoff Davey recalled: "The woman was talking to the 999 control operator who kept us informed about the situation. "She said she was trapped in the bedroom with two children. She was going down hill. Before we arrived she went quiet so we knew she wasn't well."

On arrival the crews forced their way through the front door and, wearing breathing apparatus, rescued the mother and her two sons from the smoke-filled house.

But they had to make a quick decision. The mother and one of her sons had stopped breathing but first they had to find out whether they had a pulse.

In each case they did find a pulse so they decided to administer oxygen to both mother and son, rather than try heart massage, which, in this situation, could have been fatal.

Firefighter Davey and leading firefighter Simon Nutman worked to resuscitate the mother on the pavement immediately outside the house. And firefighter Trevor Williams took the boy into the cab of one of the engines where he successfully got him breathing again.

Leading firefighter Nutman said: "It's an incident that the three of us will never forget. The biggest reward was seeing them coming round."

The three Andover firefighters did not receive the award fom rescuing the family from the house - since this is part of the job - but for the resuscitation which went beyond the normal requirements of their work.

All firefighters on the call out have already received the chief fire officer's certificate of congratulations.