A Spalding firefighter picked up a Pride of Britain Award on Monday night after helping to save the life of a man impaled on a 10 foot pole.
George Berry (26) of Bluebell Close was part of the Red Watch Fire Crew in October 2017 which saved the life of Phil Ewins.
Phil, then 31, was driving to propose to his girlfriend Dikla at the Birmingham restaurant they’d had their first date, when he was involved in a horrendous car crash that led to a sharp metal poles piercing him through his chest and out of his back – pinning him to his seat.
Red Watch and West Midlands Fire Service colleagues from the Technical Rescue Unit used their expertise to carefully cut him out using saws, wary that vibrations on the pole could have killed him.
Phil, who was conscious throughout, told the Pride of Britain team: “I remember the car being dismantled around me. I listened to the team talking through the options for cutting the bar.
“They were having to make decisions that might end my life.”
After successfully being removed from the car, Phil was taken to hospital with part of the railing lodged in his body and had lifesaving surgery on his liver, lungs and diaphragm.
After being in an induced coma for four days he’s made a good recovery; enough to marry Dikla last July with George (pictured, right) and his former colleagues all invited.
“Seeing Phil dancing at his wedding was just an amazing moment,” said George, who now works for Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue, in Peterborough and also as a retained firefighter at Spalding Fire Station.
“I’d only met him twice before then and one of them was obviously the worst day of his life, so it was great to see him on the best day of his life too.
“Now we know he’s a really, really, nice guy.
“We first thought it was a regular car crash, but we went up to the car and shone the torch inside and we saw him with pole having gone right through him.
“We first had to take the complete side of the car off, then the roof before we could get to him. You’re just concentrating on the task in hand and talking him through it. It was quite intense.
“You work together as a team and it makes such a sense of accomplishment when you’ve achieved something as a team.”
Phil nominated them for a Pride of Britain Award which George’s superiors were presented with on behalf of the team from TV presenters Richard Hammond and Amanda Holden at London’s glamorous and star-studded ceremony.
“It was a really good evening, surreal in that there were famous faces everywhere,” said George, who himself has featured on the Into the Fire documentary on the Really channel. “I spoke to Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield and spent part of the night having a beer with astronaut Tim Peake.
“Hearing all the stories made it a really emotional evening.
“Watching our story took me right back to the incident which seems a long time ago.
“But the best bit was that Phil was there and we got to speak with him and ask him what his plans for the future are. That was emotional too.”
George has always wanted to be a firefighter and was based in Birmingham for over three years because he was doing a university course in Wolverhampton on fire and rescue.
He continued to live in Spalding and playing rugby for Spalding RFC while working in the Highgate Station, sleeping in a caravan at the back of the station when working shifts.
“My uncle was a firefighter up in Scotland and what kid doesn’t want to be a firefighter,” George said when asked of his inspiration.
“I would like to thank all my family for supporting me in my job. It’s really appreciated.”
In fact George heard he and his colleagues had won the award while sitting watching This Morning while in the salon hairdresser mum Michelle Lawson works in.
She said of her son’s Pride of Britain Award: “I was proud enough of him as it was – but flipping heck.
“I’m delighted for him as he’s worked so hard and he just loves the job.”
The Pride of Britain Awards will be broadcast at 8pm on ITV on Tuesday (November 6).
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