HERO policemen who stormed a burning building to rescue a barely-conscious woman narrowly missed out on a national bravery award.

Matthew Agar and Caleb Smith, from Thames Valley Police's South Oxfordshire team, were shortlisted for the Police Federation's national bravery awards last week.

PC Smith, who is based at Grove, said he felt honoured and privileged to attend the awards reception at Number 10 Downing Street.

The pair already won a Thames Valley Police Federation bravery award in February for their heroic efforts to save a woman from a house fire in Harwell on December 27, 2017.

Armed with only a small fire extinguisher, the two life-saving officers from South Oxfordshire ran into the blazing inferno to drag the woman to safety.

The fire had engulfed the kitchen and smoke blanketed the home in North Drive, and PCs Agar and Smith, who were on patrol just minutes away, saw smoke 'pouring from the property'.

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PC Agar said: “It was a case of being in the right place at the right time.

"When you arrive at a job like this you just get an immediate adrenaline rush, it doesn’t really kick in how dangerous what you’ve encountered is until after it’s all over."

The pair stormed through the smoke, found the woman barely conscious and dragged her free. She went on to make a full recovery.