A police officer who fought to restrain a man in a burning garage while his boots were ablaze is one of a pair who been given awards for their actions that night.
Sergeant Richard Bracey and Constable Friederike Faber were honoured at the annual Police Association conference in Wellington on Thursday.
Constable Faber was one of the the first officers to arrive at a family harm callout at a home in Counties Manukau in July last year.
But the situation escalated quickly when a man barricaded himself inside and then fled to the garage after Faber and Bracey clambered into the home through the bathroom window.
What the officers didn't know was that the man had poured petrol at all the exits to the home and placed containers of fuel about the garage.
He grabbed a container, poured petrol about the garage and pulled out a cigarette lighter.
Faber said it was the scariest moment of her life.
"I just thought 'if this lighter touches the ground then we're gone'. I could smell the petrol. I looked down, I saw the fuel containers and - in my head - I could see it just blow up in my face," Faber said.
The officers' worst fears were realised when, despite their efforts to restrain him, the man lit the fuel.
Bracey grappled with the man, waist deep in fire with his boots ablaze, as Faber ran to grab blankets to smother the flames.
"When it got to that point I seriously thought I wasn't going to make it. That's how high it got for me - and I've been doing this for quite a while - so I was thinking 'I'm not coming home'," Bracey said.
Reinforcing officers smashed their way into the building and dragged the offender from the flames while Bracey hurled a burning petrol container from the building before it could explode.
The pair stayed in the building, despite Bracey orders for Faber to leave, and used blankets and water from the garage to quell the flames before fire crews arrived.
"Seeing sarge Bracey in the flames and just yelling at him to 'get out, get out' and he wouldn't go out and I was like 'I'm not leaving without him'. I would never leave him behind," Faber said.
"Even then, both Sergeant Bracey and Constable Faber chose not to retreat. Despite inhaling smoke and risking their lives to prevent the house being consumed they stayed to fight the fire using blankets and water from a garage sink.
"Their actions were nothing short of extraordinary," Peters said.
Bracey said the sudden escalation, of what felt initially like a routine call, had taught him to never be complacent on any assignment.
"We love our job but you can't predict - no matter all the planning that you put in - you still cannot predict what someone will do," Bracey said.
In receiving the award the Bracey and Faber were quick to acknowledge the bravery of their fellow officers and the support of their families and partners.
